A few weeks back I told you a new wave of TCPA class actions was coming involving litigators who opt out of SMS messages without using keywords such as STOP or QUIT:
Well that wave is already crashing with at least half a dozen new suits contending some very curious “opt outs” qualify as TCPA revocations.
Check these new class actions out:
Rose v. 307 SW 2nd St
S.D. FL; 0:25-cv-61339
texts after “I do not wish to be contacted”
Dudek v. Surf Clean Energy
E.D. NY; 2:25-cv-03621
texts after “S” (responded solely with uppercase letter “S”)
Gomez v. Gage Bowl
C.D. CA; 2:25-cv-05257
texts after “exit”
Torre v. American First Finance
E.D. CA; 2:25-cv-01447
texts after ‘cease and desist’
Gabai v. Tabs Labs
C.D. CA; 2:25-cv-04630
texts after ‘remove’ and ‘no’
Mokled v. Hanna Cars
S.D. FL; 0:25-cv-60899
texts after ‘no’
And notice this is definitely being done on purpose. Check out the Gomez evader at work:
He said “Exit” three different times. No effort to switch to “stop” or “unsubscribe.”
Or how about Miss. “I do not wish to be contacted”:
You can’t tell me that’s not a set up.
In one suit a guy just texted “S” and claimed it was a valid opt out. Then again the stop notifier seems to have invited that:
Weird right?
Bottom line– the keyword avoider opt out TCPA litigation wave is real and upon us. Again, after the FCC’s revocation rule in April went into effect these lawsuits are very much an issue because a consumer can revoke via any reasonable means and are not limited to any specific keyword in an SMS revocation effort.