Class Action Claims Circle K Sent Spam Texts to Numbers on National Do Not Call Registry
by Erin Shaak
Last Updated on August 10, 2020
Tomaszewski et al. v. Circle K Stores, Inc.
Filed: August 6, 2020 ◆§ 2:20-cv-01569
A proposed class action claims Circle K Stores sent automated text messages to consumers whose numbers were listed on the National Do Not Call Registry.
A proposed class action filed against Circle K Stores, Inc. claims the gas station and convenience store chain sent automated text messages to consumers whose numbers were listed on the National Do Not Call Registry (DNC).
The two plaintiffs say they each received several unsolicited text messages encouraging them to sign up for Circle K’s Easy Rewards program “without ever having given Circle K consent to call or text message them” and despite their respective numbers’ inclusion on the National DNC.
According to the lawsuit, the texts were sent using an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) given the messages’ generic content, their ability to trigger an automated response when a recipient replies “STOP” or “YES,” and the fact that they were sent from a short code (253279).
Per the complaint, neither the plaintiffs nor proposed class members ever provided consent to be contacted by Circle K, who the suit says is the subject of numerous online complaints from other consumers who’ve reported receiving apparently unsolicited text messages.
The plaintiffs claim the defendant’s conduct has harmed them in the form of annoyance, nuisance, and invasion of privacy, and seek relief on behalf of the following proposed class:
“All persons in the United States who from four years prior to the filing of this action through class certification (1) Defendant (or an agent acting on behalf of Defendant) texted more than one time, (2) within any 12-month period, (3) where the person’s telephone number had been listed on the National Do Not Call Registry for at least thirty days, (4) for substantially the same reason Defendant texted Plaintiff, and (5) for whom Defendant claims (a) it obtained prior express written consent in the same manner as Defendant claims it supposedly obtained prior express written consent to call Plaintiffs, or (b) it did not obtain prior express written consent.”
The suit alleges Circle K has violated the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which prohibits entities from contacting consumers with numbers listed on the National DNC.
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