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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."'
Enjoy your justice - American sytle.
The law says that you aren't allowed to spam cell phones with commercial advertisements. No opt out necessary.
What I imagine happened is this: A marketing firm contacts Papa John's marketing about spamming sms, convinces them its a great idea.
Marketing arm of Papa Johns goes ahead on its own, resulting in this case.
At no point was any technical, legal or compliance arm of Papa Johns consulted, where they would have found people who know about this stuff due to existing business relationships with above-board SMS platform providers who would have informed them of the legal requirements for operating a sms service (opt-ins, requirement for STOP handling, etc).
Anonymous because the stuff in bold is true.
This won't go to trial, it will be settled beforehand. The case is that unwinnable for Papa Johns.
Couldn't happen to a "nicer" guy. He was so angry about the $0.14 per pizza he would have to spend to give his employees healthcare coverage that he will now be paying out the equivalent on healthcare costs for an entire state and with nothing to show for it.
Oops.
Stupid is as stupid does.
Companies should honor requests for people to be able to opt out
No, they should all be "op-in"...
(...otherwise they just set up a new company every week and we have to "opt-out" all over again)
No sig today...
I fail to see what Papa John's has to do with pizza.
No, the drivers lose in the cost of gas to go out. They lose tips for non-existent deliveries. They lose income from people being angry and petty. Remember, the people working in the stores aren't the ones who sent the spam, but they will be the ones to bear the worst of the punishment for such actions. Best response is to just not buy from them anymore. I've stopped ordering a long time ago when I found out he was a heavy political backer of the "nut-job right" (not to be confused with actual Conservatives).
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.
I'm sure there is an element of this, but it's not just about the nickel ; it's about the dollars he'd have to spend on wages for employees that were no longer terrified of losing their jobs.
People who aren't worried about their healthcare costs are less scared of losing their job. The American healthcare system is a nightmare because a single accident can bankrupt you, wipe you out, make you choose between keeping a finger and sending your kids to college.
People like this ass perceive their employees as convenient victims, not partners in their pizza enterprise. Making them happier and more content is not on their agenda, because happy contented people are less likely to want to work for minimum wage and clock out when the restaurant is empty.
Papa Johns is one of the better nationwide chains of pizza
That's like saying "Having electrodes pasted onto your nuts is one of the more tolerable forms of torture."
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.