TCPA Plaintiff Alleges Getting Barraged With Texts From GOP in Pa.

The Republican Committee of Chester County, in Pennsylvania’s Delaware Valley, inundated consumer Mark Fidanza with 17 text message solicitations Oct. 19, in the run-up to the Nov. 8 midterm elections, including 10 separate text messages to his cellphone in less than a single hour, alleged his Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action Wednesday (docket 2:22-cv-05185) in U.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Fidanza deployed the opt-out option that came with the text messages, but the solicitations kept coming, even though he lives in and is registered to vote in Montgomery County, not in Chester County, said his complaint. Fidanza had no prior contact or dealings with the committee and never gave it personal information or otherwise authorized it to contact him, it said. Under FCC guidance, said his complaint, robotexts sent by political organizations using an autodialer violate the TCPA when sent without the recipient’s prior consent. He alleges the committee’s TCPA wrongdoing was negligent, knowing and willful. The committee didn’t respond to requests for comment Wednesday.