Manatt’s Christine Reilly, leader of the consumer protection, advertising and competition group, and Kristin Haule, a litigation associate, spoke to The Fashion Law on apparel store Hot Topic’s recent settlement in a lawsuit over unwanted text messages.
Diana Soukhaphonh filed suit against Hot Topic in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in July 2016 over a promotional text message that she received from the company, according to The Fashion Law. Soukhaphonh asserted that while she made a purchase on the store’s website in May 2015, she never consented to receiving text messages from the company.
Soukhaphonh and a class of other Hot Topic customers put forth a $2.9 million settlement for approval by the court this week.
Reilly and Haule said that this nearly $3 million settlement “shows how quickly the $500 statutory damages figure for each TCPA violation—aka for each text message—can add up, and just how critical it is.” They added that retailers and brands “keep detailed and secure records about when and how consent was provided for each consumer” they contact through automatic dialing systems, artificial or prerecorded voice messages, and text messages.