Class Action Claims Coca-Cola Marketing Texts Were Sent Without Permission, Violated TCPA

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The Coca-Cola Company is facing a proposed class action lawsuit that claims it violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by sending unwanted and unauthorized texts to consumers without consent.

According to the case, Coca-Cola sent an unwanted text advertising its products to the lead plaintiff in September 2018. An additional text was allegedly sent in October, followed by three more in February 2019, which the case claims prompted the plaintiff to request an end to the messages by texting “STOP” to the number. The complaint claims, however, that Coca-Cola ignored this request and sent four additional messages to the plaintiff after she explicitly requested that the company stop texting her.

The suit argues that these communications were illegal since the plaintiff’s phone number is registered on the National Do-Not-Call Registry (DNC) and the defendant generated the texts by way of an automated telephone dialing system (ATDS).

Express written consent is required to send texts to numbers on the DNC or to use an ATDS for telemarketing purposes under the TCPA, the lawsuit states. The suit claims, however, that Coca-Cola did not receive express written consent before sending the texts at the center of the complaint. Furthermore, the lawsuit stresses that any consent that may have existed was explicitly revoked when the plaintiff sent a message asking Coca-Cola to stop sending texts.

The suit seeks to represent three classes that cover everyone who received Coca-Cola’s advertising texts generated using an ATDS within the past four years and who never provided the defendant with prior express written consent. In addition, the suit proposes classes for those who meet the above conditions and were either enrolled in the DNC or explicitly requested an end to the texts.