MLB Advanced Media, San Francisco Giants Hit with Class Action Over Alleged Spam Texts [UPDATE]
Last Updated on October 22, 2021
Lee v. MLB Advanced Media, L.P. et al.
Filed: March 2, 2021 ◆§ 1:21-cv-01719
A class action claims MLB Advanced Media and the San Francisco Giants have sent unsolicited, auto-generated spam text messages without first obtaining express written consent to do so.
New York
Case Updates
October 22, 2021 – San Francisco Giants Text Ad Suit Voluntarily Dismissed by Plaintiff
The proposed class action detailed on this page was voluntarily dismissed by the plaintiff on July 8, 2021.
The plaintiff’s decision to toss the lawsuit came days after U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl told the consumer during a status conference that “[i]t would seem you don’t have a case.”
What ultimately hampered the plaintiff’s complaint was an April 2021 Supreme Court ruling that held that a system is only considered an “autodialer” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act if it’s capable of producing or storing numbers using a random or sequential number generator. Rather than file an amended complaint to meet heightened pleading standards set by the Supreme Court’s ruling, the suit was ultimately dismissed voluntarily.
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A proposed class action alleges Major League Baseball’s media marketing arm and one National League West team have sent unsolicited spam texts in an effort to “stay on their fans’ minds” and boost sales as TV ratings and game attendance have for years steadily dropped.
The 19-page lawsuit out of New York alleges MLB Advanced Media, L.P. and the San Francisco Giants Baseball Club, LLC have run afoul of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by intrusively transmitting advertisement and telemarketing text messages to consumers’ cell phones via automatic dialing technology without first obtaining express written consent to do so.
As the complaint tells it, MLB Advanced Media is “under constant pressure to perform” given team owners, including those of the Giants, provided the entity with initial capital contributions. According to the case, MLB Advanced Media, “[d]esperate to help drive fan engagement” so critically relied upon by MLB team owners looking to reverse “nosediving ratings,” began sidestepping its obligations under the federal TCPA by employing “intrusive and illegal telephone marketing strategies,” including the use of robotexts.
The suit alleges MLB Advanced Media has registered under its name at least 28 shortcode telephone numbers used to further its “scheme to gain access to baseball fans’ cell phones and bombard them with advertisements and telemarketing pitches.” Shortcode phone numbers, the lawsuit relays, are used to send text messages en masse from a dialing system capable of producing or storing numbers via a random or sequential number generator and sending messages “in an automated fashion without human intervention.”
MLB Advanced Media “encourages” each team’s management to develop and copyright text messages marketing campaigns for each team, the suit claims. The text message-based promotions are developed by each team, in many instances with the help of MLB Advanced Media, and then sent out to consumers via text message with automated dialing technology, according to the case. As a result of MLB Advanced Media and each team’s management’s marketing efforts, consumers have been subject to a hail of robotexts no matter where they might be or what they might be doing, the lawsuit contends:
“MLB Media’s marketing tactics walk consumers into an onslaught of marketing messages delivered straight to their cell phones without regard to whether the text recipients are trying to drive safely, pray in peace, focus attention on their jobs or families or otherwise attempting to seek solitude in their homes or elsewhere.”
The San Francisco Giants, for the team’s part, has sent advertisement and telemarketing texts to consumers’ cell phones without obtaining prior express consent to do so, the suit alleges. Per the complaint, once the Giants’ text promotions or ads are finalized, they are sent to MLB Advanced Media personnel who then, without human intervention, cause the texts to be sent to consumers en masse by way of automated dialing technology.
The plaintiff, a California resident, claims to have received from the Giants between May 2019 and October 2020 at least 13 robotexts in which the team advertised various promotions at its ballpark or prompted recipients to register to vote. According to the lawsuit, the texts received by the plaintiff do not constitute calls made for an emergency purpose as defined by the TCPA, and were sent without the woman first providing express written consent to receive the messages. Per the case, the texts received by the plaintiff were of a similar nature to “text blasts” sent by MLB Advanced Media from the various shortcodes in its possession to consumers nationwide.
The suit looks to represent all persons in the United States who, without having provided the required prior express written consent, received a text message sent by or on behalf of MLB Advanced Media or the San Francisco Giants or an affiliate, subsidiary or agent of the defendants from any MLB Media shortcode. As it relates to the Giants, the case looks to cover all persons in the U.S. who, without having provided the mandatory prior express written consent, received a text message sent by or on behalf of the team or an affiliate, subsidiary or agent of the Giants from the shortcode phone number 99778.
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