Procter & Gamble engages “in unsolicited and continuous text messaging practices” in support of its Oral-B brand, even after consumers opt out of P&G’s solicitations, alleged plaintiff Olukemi Adewole’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action Thursday (docket 1:23-cv-00336) in U.S. District Court for Southern Ohio in Cincinnati. Adewole is among the millions of consumers who listed their phone numbers on the national do not call registry, it said. She listed her number on the DNC registry in March 2018, but she nevertheless received numerous text messages from P&G or from others on P&G’s behalf, it said. It’s “simple” for companies to avoid text-messaging numbers listed on the DNC registry by “easily and inexpensively” scrubbing their contact lists against the DNC database, said the complaint. Despite “expressly informing” P&G she didn’t wish to continue receiving text-message solicitations, Adewole continued receiving them anyway, it said. She alleges P&G “sent a significant number of unwanted and illegal advertising and/or telemarketing text messages” to thousands of other people in the U.S. who either registered their phone numbers with the DNC registry or “expressly asked P&G to stop,” it said. P&G didn’t comment Friday.

Two sequentially numbered lawsuits alleging Citibank violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act were filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for Southern California in San Diego by Ahren Tiller of the BLC Law Center. They allege Citibank used an automated telephone dialing system and an artificial or prerecorded voice to unlawfully collect credit card debts from their plaintiffs. Both complaints also allege violations of California’s Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. In one complaint (docket 3:23-cv-01007), Rogerio Castillo alleges Citibank phoned him more than 140 times to collect a debt on three credit card accounts after his lawyer on Feb. 3 sent a cease and desist letter urging it to stop. In the other complaint (docket 3:23-cv-01008), Austin Mitchell alleges Citibank phoned him more than 150 times after his lawyer warned the bank in writing Jan. 25 to stop. Both complaints allege Citibank’s TCPA wrongdoing was knowing and willful, entitling their plaintiffs to treble damages under the statute.

Allstate admits it contacted plaintiff Bryan Reo Dec. 14, but said it did so with Reo’s consent, said the insurer’s answer Wednesday (docket 1:23-cv-00329) in U.S. District Court for Eastern Ohio in Cleveland to Reo’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act complaint. Reo’s complaint alleges Allstate shows “flagrant disregard” for TCPA compliance (see 2302220037). During the December call, Reo “inquired about products and services during the call and consented to receive a quote for services,” said Allstate. It denies it improperly obtained information about Reo from the Department of Motor Vehicles, as Reo alleges, it said.

The U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois in Chicago should deny Humana’s May 1 motion to dismiss plaintiff Antionette Woodard's Telephone Consumer Protection Act putative class action for lack of personal jurisdiction (see 2304280006), said Woodard’s memorandum Tuesday (docket 1:23-cv-00979) in support of her opposition. Humana’s motion to dismiss is “procedurally and substantively deficient,” it said. Woodard alleges Humana is vicariously liable for the incessant insurance solicitation calls its third-party telemarketing vendor, Healthhubb, made on Humana's behalf to her cellphone, though her number was listed on the national do not call registry since Sept. 25 (see 2302170038). Humana denies it ever had a business relationship with Healthhubb. Though Humana’s motion is “styled” as a Rule 12(b)(2) motion, it’s actually “a thinly veiled effort to obtain a merits judgment without discovery,” said the memorandum. The 7th Circuit has said a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction shouldn’t allow for this “where a plaintiff otherwise adequately pleads a basis for jurisdiction, as here,” it said. Woodard met her burden to allege personal jurisdiction in the complaint, and her allegations “are in fact substantiated by the non-conclusory averments in the self-serving declaration Humana submits as the evidence to support its motion,” it said. The complaint’s allegations and the evidence presented “show that Humana can still be held vicariously liable because it accepted the benefits of Healthhubb’s telemarketing calls on its behalf,” it said. “As such, Humana’s motion should be denied outright.”

Credit Pros denies it sent plaintiff Joshua Champion text message solicitations using an automatic telephone dialing system, in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, said the credit repair services company’s answer Tuesday (docket 2:21-cv-10814) in U.S. District Court for New Jersey in Newark to Champion’s first amended complaint. Champion’s claims and the claims of the putative class he seeks to represent fail or otherwise are barred “because any alleged wrongdoing” by Credit Pros “was caused by mistake,” it said. Credit Pros “acted reasonably and in good faith at all material times based on all relevant facts and circumstances known by it at the time it acted,” it said. The “statutory damages provisions” of the TCPA are excessive fines and “are grossly disproportionate to any actual harm that may have been suffered,” it said. Those provisions violate “the safeguards” of the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and 14th amendments, it said. The subject text messages also “constitute commercial speech protected by the First Amendment,” it said.

U.S. District Judge George Hanks for Southern Texas in Houston set an Aug. 21 jury trial in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act case brought nearly three years ago by eight states against multiple defendants, said a signed clerk’s notice Thursday (docket 4:20-cv-02021). The states allege the defendants are responsible for billions of “abusive” robocalls to generate sales leads for goods and services including healthcare products and extended automobile warranties.

Lending3 “casts its marketing net too wide,” said plaintiff Lucine Trim, in a Thursday class action (docket 8:23-cv-00922) in U.S. District Court for Southern California in Santa Ana. Trim alleges the mortgage lender violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by placing calls to individuals on the do not call registry. Trim, a resident of North Hollywood, California, alleges Lending3's “wide scale telemarketing campaign” repeatedly makes unsolicited calls using an automatic telephone dialing system to consumers’ landline and cellular phones without prior consent. Trim received three calls from a telemarketer representing Lending3 between Dec. 4, 2019 and March 22, 2021, said the complaint. Trim doesn’t have a relationship with Lending3, never provided her phone number to the company and never requested that the company call her, she said. She seeks an award of $500 for each violation, plus attorneys’ fees and legal costs.

U.S. District Court lacks jurisdiction over plaintiff Jamie Vargas’ lawsuit alleging Redbox violated Florida’s Telephone Solicitation Act (FTSA), said Vargas’ motion (docket 3:23-cv-08760) to remand the case to state court Wednesday in U.S. District Court for Northern Florida in Pensacola. Redbox removed the case from the First Judicial Circuit Court for Escambia County in April (see 2304260048). Vargas alleged Redbox sent “numerous telephone sales calls” to his cellphone, but “the only concrete example given is a string of five text messages,” said U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers in April (see 2304280045), saying it’s “questionable” whether the alleged harm is sufficient to allege a concrete injury-in-fact standing for Article III purposes. Vargas disputes that his allegations are sufficient to satisfy Article III standing but not state court standing, asserting Redbox bears the burden of establishing that Vargas has Article III standing to remain in federal court, said the motion. In its response to the April 27 court order, Redbox said Wednesday it properly removed the action to federal court and requested that the court grant its pending motion to stay. The defendant referenced the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ forthcoming en banc rehearing of Drazen v. Pinto, which will address whether receipt of an unsolicited text message is sufficient to establish Article III standing. Vargas alleges Redbox makes sales calls and texts to consumers without having secured prior express written consent as required by the FTSA. A screenshot from Vargas’ phone showed the five texts from September to October pitching free movies, menu deals and discounts, one in exchange for “deets.” Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed bill HB-716 Thursday loosening state robocall restrictions The new law is likely to lessen autodialer litigation in a state that briefly had some of the tightest restrictions, said telemarketing lawyers. Vargas' class action claims the video rental company sent more than 10,000 marketing text messages to telephone companies with Florida area codes. Vargas seeks an injunction requiring Redbox to cease unauthorized sales calls, plus statutory damages.

The National Rifle Association of America Political Victory Fund, a political action committee based in Fairfax, Virginia, inundated consumer Patricia Crowley’s cellphone in the run-up to the Nov. 8 election with text messages backing Arizona Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake, alleged Crowley’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action Tuesday (docket 2:23-cv-00903) in U.S. District Court for Arizona in Phoenix. Crawford and potential members of her class have no relationship with the PAC, nor did they give the PAC their phone numbers, it said. The PAC “embarked on an unsolicited text message campaign, causing Crawford and class members injuries, including invasion of their privacy, aggravation, annoyance, intrusion on seclusion, trespass, and conversion,” it said. Lake lost the election to then-Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D).

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act dispute between plaintiff Scotty Asher and Rent-A-Center was resolved, said Asher’s settlement notice Wednesday (docket 2:23-cv-00430) in U.S. District Court for Nevada in Las Vegas. Asher’s counsel anticipates filing dismissal documents within 60 days, said the notice. Asher alleged Rent-A-Center inundated him with daily debt collection calls using an automatic telephone dialing system involving an account that didn’t belong to him (see 2303230050).