The Jacobs Law Firm, Chtd. & Edelson McGuire, LLC Announce Text Message Settlement
SAN FRANCISCO, March 16, 2010 —A settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit brought against Simon & Schuster, Inc. and ipsh!Net, Inc. relating to the alleged transmission of unsolicited text message advertisements to the cell phones of consumers nationwide. The lawsuit alleged that the text-message marketing campaign, in which the publisher retained the marketing firm ipsh!Net to promote the then-forthcoming Stephen King novel Cell, violated a provision of the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”).
The settlement, which was preliminarily approved March 3, 2010 by a Federal Court in San Francisco, establishes a $10 million cash settlement fund out of which payments of up to $175 will be made to each claimant who received such a text message. Both Simon & Schuster and ipsh!Net have denied the marketing campaign violated any laws or was in any way improper or harmful to consumers.
Attorneys Jay Edelson and Ryan D. Andrews of Edelson McGuire, LLC and John G. Jacobs and Bryan G. Kolton of The Jacobs Law Firm, Chtd. were appointed by the Court to serve as attorneys for the class.
“The $175 cash payment for those who received the text messages at issue and comply with the claims requirements is intended to benefit the public at large with the hope that instances of unsolicited text message advertising will be drastically reduced,” commented Andrews. (Neither Simon & Schuster nor ipsh!Net agrees that the message in this case was in fact unsolicited.) The settlement further provides a donation in the amount of $250,000 to charitable organizations approved by the Court.
Class members are encouraged to visit www.satterfieldtextsettlement.com to learn more details about the settlement and how to apply for a settlement payment. Class members may also call the Settlement Administrator at 1-800-222-2760 or Edelson McGuire, LLC at 1-866-354-3015 for more information.
