Papa John's Sued For Unwanted Pizza-Related Texts

jfruh writes "Nationwide pizza chain Papa John's is finding itself on the receiving end of a $250 million text spam lawsuit. From the article: 'Seattle law firm Heyrich Kalish McGuigan, representing three Papa John's customers, alleged that the pizza delivery service has sent 500,000 unwanted text messages to customers. If the court finds that Papa John's violated the U.S. Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the pizza maker could have to pay damages of $500 per text message, or US$250 million, one of the largest damage awards under the 1991 law, the law firm said. "Many customers complained to Papa John's that they wanted the text messages to stop, and yet thousands of spam text messages were sent week after week," Donald Heyrich, attorney for the plaintiffs said in a statement. "This should be a wake-up call to advertisers. Consumers do not want spam on their cell phones."'

Comments

Re:Who doesn't want Pizza?

[dosius]

I wouldn't call that crud pizza. Fake mozz? Hell, every pizzeria around here uses the real thing, whole-milk mozzarella.

-uso.

The law says...

[iYk6]

The law says that you aren't allowed to spam cell phones with commercial advertisements. No opt out necessary.

Re:The law says...

[houghi]

In Belgium this is different. We can (and do) send commercial offers to our customers. Two things:
1) We honor the opt-out
2) The customer never has to pay when receiving messages (unless he is in another country and roaming is on)

Papa John

[nospam007]

Just as info for those who don't know these morons.

"Before the election Papa John’s CEO John Schnatter, a big Romney supporter, was one of the highest profile CEOs threatening layoffs and pizza price hikes (god forbid!) if Obama won. He doubled down after the election, like the Vegas man saying he’d start making layoffs and reducing hours at Papa John’s locations rather than having to provide healthcare for people working more than 30 hours per week."

http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/190955/idiots-line-up-to-thank-papa-johns-for-screwing-them-out-of-healthcare/

Re:Papa John

[RabidReindeer]

"...doubled down"?

Is that the latest trendy phrase over there?

Scott Adams mentioned it today, I thought he was exaggerating. Apparently not.

Yes. You're late to the party.

Translation: It didn't work before, so now we'll do it twice as hard.

Re:Papa John

[arth1]

You realize, of course, that by doing that, you're hosing the employees even further, because not only will hours be cut, but so will the number of employees.

People won't stop buying pizza. They'll buy from other places instead, which means other places will be hiring.

Anyhow, I don't really get the whole pizza delivery thing. Where I live, it's quicker for me to make a pizza from scratch than to order one.
It's really not hard - if it were, those guys wouldn't be able to do it...

Re:Papa John

[ehynes]

How can it be payback? The lawsuit is being brought by a private law firm and it was certified as a class-action case by a Reagan appointee.

Re:Papa John

[DerekLyons]

Papa John's is reacting to the new economic reality they face under the Obama regime. It's that simple. Obamacare will force them to cut hours and let people go. They know that. We know that. This has never changed since the concept was first floated. It's reality.

Some people knew it - but many people lived under a reality distortion field that lead them to believe that there would be no consequences of any kind under the new law. Those of us who pointed out the flaws in the plan and pointed out that you couldn't alter the trajectory of billions of dollars without consequences were and are being called haters, and liars, and ignorant... and worse.
 
The worst part is that Obamacare doesn't actually do anything to reform health care or control costs. It's a shell game to hide the mounting costs.
 
Still, the effects of this farce are only beginning to be felt. The shell game they've been playing about funding is going to end, with a shell lifted to reveal... nothing. Expect a wave of insurance companies going under over the next decade, if they aren't bailed out to the tune of billions or trillions (which the government doesn't have). Since many underwriters and insurance companies also provide other forms of insurance, the ripple effects through the economy will be staggering.
 
And those ignorant people under the reality distortion field won't understand that these consequences were as predictable as the sun rising. They simply cannot comprehend TANSTAAFL.

Re:Papa John

[jackbird]

Actually, the clusterfuck that ended up being the ACA was an attempt to get republicans on board. The actual sickly-sweet loving liberal version is single payer, like, you know, the rest of the developed world. And small business owners should be first in line to ask for it (perhaps only after large corporations with large retiree healthcare expenses), but somehow they've all been convinced it's anathema.

Re:Who doesn't want Pizza?

[bfandreas]

Not to be nitpicky but proper Mozzarella is made from (European) buffalo milk. Not that cheap cow stuff.
Not every lactation of any bovine will do for proper Mozzarella.

But anything is better than that horrid cheese analogue they stir together from second rate fat, rotting skunks and paint.

The FCC is soliciting comments on this topic.

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, the FCC has a currently open comment period on how to address automated system for sending spam texts to cell phones. See http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7022037251

With this Public Notice, we seek comment on the petition for an expedited clarification and
declaratory ruling filed by Revolution Messaging, LLC.1 Revolution Messaging asks the Commission to
clarify that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)2 and the Commission’s related rules3 apply
to users of Internet-to-phone text messaging technology and similar technologies involving the storage
and automatic dialing of wireless telephone numbers.4 Revolution Messaging states that such a ruling
would make clear that Internet-to-phone text messaging technology is a type of “automatic telephone
dialing system” under the Commission’s rules and is therefore subject to the prohibitions in the TCPA
and the Commission’s related rules.

Anyone can file comments urging the FCC to make clear that such systems should be considered a type of “automatic telephone dialing system” under the Commission’s rules.

Read the full petition here: http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7022037252

File comments on the FCC ECFS system, the docket number to use is "02-278". http://http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/upload/

And although the deadline is close, the FCC is generally fairly liberal in allowing and considering late-filed comments.

"Obamacare" cost less than free pizzas

[DeadCatX2]

About that criticism of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (otherwise known as Baucuscare, after Senator Max Baucus of Montana, the man who *actually* wrote the law (or rather, it was Sen. Baucus' aides and lobbyists, but at least Baucuscare is less of a misnomer, since laws are not written by the executive branch))

Mr. John Schnatter, CEO of Papa Johns, estimates that the PPACA will cost his company $5 to $8 million annually.

In September, Papa Johns ran a campaign where they gave out two million free pizzas. The cost of these pizzas would be $24 to $32 million, estimated.

In other words, free pizza advertising gimmicks cost about four times as much as providing health care to your employees.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/calebmelby/2012/11/12/breaking-down-centi-millionaire-papa-john-schnatters-obamacare-math/

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