Tampa Bay Lightning Ownership Hit with TCPA Class Action Over Alleged ‘Onslaught’ of Marketing Text Messages [UPDATE]
Last Updated on February 28, 2020
Hanley v. Tampa Bay Sports And Entertainment Llc
Filed: March 5, 2019 ◆§ 8:19cv550
A class action claims Tampa Bay Sports and Entertainment inundates fans with text messages once they enter to win a prize sweepstakes or request information texts.
Florida
Case Updates
Update – Judge Preliminarily OKs $2.25 Million Settlement
On January 7, United States District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell granted preliminary approval to a proposed $2.25 million settlement to end the lawsuit detailed on this page.
The proposed settlement covers all cell phone users nationwide who, after texting a keyword to the shortcode number 61873, were sent at least one text message in connection with the Bolts Text Club through the Phizzle text message dialing program. The amount of cash a consumer may be awarded depends on how many individuals submit valid claims forms.
Consumers can file claims at the official settlement website, which can be found here.
A final approval hearing is tentatively scheduled for April 7, 2020. Class members have until March 9 to opt out of the settlement.
Update – October 18, 2019 – Case Settled
The parties involved with the lawsuit detailed on this page have agreed to a settlement. Few details are presently available, but the plaintiffs’ notice of class action settlement submitted on October 17 states counsel for both the plaintiff and the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning are in the process of “drafting a settlement agreement and preparing related settlement materials.”
Law360 reports that the U.S. District Court in Tampa has closed the case for 60 days to allow the parties to submit a thorough settlement agreement and motion for preliminary approval. Word of the settlement comes as somewhat of a surprise as the parties as recently as October 10 told the court that a late-September mediation session failed to yield an agreement.
This post will be updated once further settlement details are available.
Tampa Bay Sports and Entertainment, LLC, which owns the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning, has been hit with a proposed class action lawsuit in which a consumer claims the company uses bait-and-switch tactics to lure fans into signing up for an onslaught of marketing text messages.
According to the 20-page lawsuit, the defendant’s so-called bait-and-switch tactics start when it convinces fans to enter into prize sweepstakes for game tickets or otherwise sign up for strictly informational texts about the team. Once the company obtains a consumer’s cell phone number, however, the individual is then enrolled without consent into its text message marketing campaign that allegedly “floods the recipient with nearly daily advertising and telemarketing text messages.” The plaintiff claims he did not consent in any way to receive advertising or marketing text messages, and certainly not to receive “30 such messages per month.”
Tampa Bay Sports and Entertainment sends the marketing text messages by way of an automatic telephone dialing system, the suit says, the use of which requires the recipients’ express written consent.
Before commenting, please review our comment policy.