WinRed, National Republican Senatorial Committee Face Class Action Over Automated Campaign Texts

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According to a proposed class action, WinRed Technical Services, LLC and the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) have violated federal law by sending automated text messages without securing recipients’ prior written consent to do so.

The 11-page lawsuit out of Arizona claims WinRed Technical Services, described in the complaint as the “number one online fundraising platform for the Republican Party and conservative groups,” and the NRSC, a national non-profit “devoted solely to strengthening the Republican Senate majority,” have attempted to generate campaign donations by sending autodialed text messages to consumers’ cell phones.

Unfortunately for consumers, the suit says, the defendants have “cast their marketing net too wide” by using an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) to send text messages to those who never provided express consent to be contacted. Specifically, the lawsuit claims the defendants utilize technology with “the capacity to store, produce, and dial random or sequential numbers, and/or receive and store lists of telephone numbers, and to dial such numbers, en masse, in an automated fashion without human intervention.”

According to the case, the use of automated technology to place calls or send text messages for non-emergency purposes is unlawful unless the caller first secures the recipients’ express written consent.

The plaintiff says she received around April 21, 2020 a text message in which the defendants stated, “It’s Newt. Ratings for 3 battleground states JUST shifted in favor of Schumer & Dems—if they flip 4, they take control. Stop them!” The April 21 text, the first in a series of similar messages sent over the next several days, contained a link to WinRed’s website in an attempt to solicit money from the plaintiff, the case says.

The “impersonal nature” of the messages is evidence that the texts were sent using an ATDS, the lawsuit argues, noting that language on WinRed’s website indicates the company utilizes automated technology to send campaign notifications to consumers.

Per the complaint, the plaintiff had no previous relationship with either of the defendants and neither provided her telephone number nor requested that the defendants send text messages.

“Simply put,” the complaint reads, “Plaintiff has never provided her prior express written consent to Defendants to place text message calls to her and has no business relationship with Defendants.”

The case claims the defendants were “fully aware” that their conduct violates federal law and would cause proposed class members “actual harm.”

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