AT&T Sued For Failure to Honor Text Opt-Out Requests

HIGHLIGHTS:

• AT&T is facing a class action lawsuit over allegations that it failed to honor opt-out requests for its marketing messages.
• According to the plaintiff, the text messages caused him and other consumers inconvenience, aggravation, and annoyance
• The plaintiff alleged that AT&T engages in telemarketing without the required policies, procedures, and training of personnel.

A close-up shot of a person’s hand using a mobile phone. Photo by Adrienn on Pexels

Telecommunications giant AT&T Inc. was slapped with a class action lawsuit over allegations that it failed to honor opt-out requests for its marketing texts.

In his lawsuit filed with the California federal court, plaintiff Jack Rowell said that AT&T did not honor his request to be removed from the marketing messages list as he continued to receive text messages from the company over the past four years.

He said the text messages caused himself and other consumers inconvenience, aggravation, and annoyance, constituted an invasion of privacy, and violated statutory rights.

He added that AT&T engages in telemarketing without the required policies, procedures, and training of personnel.

The lawsuit further claimed that the telco giant violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) with its alleged refusal to honor opt-out requests.

Rowell demanded a jury trial and requested declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as an award of statutory damages for himself and all class members.

2024 Lawsuit

Last year, a consumer filed a similar class action lawsuit against the company, claiming that it violated the TCPA by placing telemarketing calls using an artificial or pre-recorded voice to non-account holders who never expressed consent.

“The defendant’s refusal to honor the plaintiff’s opt-out requests demonstrates that the defendant has not instituted procedures for maintaining a list of persons who request not to receive text messages from the defendant,” the lawsuit said.

A separate lawsuit was similarly filed against the company over a data breach of phone records of almost all current and former AT&T customers.

According to AT&T, hackers attacked sensitive information of AT&T customers stored on a third-party cloud storage firm that was left unsecured. It included all records of calls and texts, including information about who users called and texted, when, and for how long.

AT&T said nearly all its cellular customers, mobile virtual network operators customers using AT&T’s network were affected, as well as AT&T landline customers who interacted with the cellular numbers between May 1, 2022, and October 31, 2022, and for a few customers from January 2, 2023.

While the content of calls and texts, names, and other relevant personal information were not included in the breach, most phone numbers can be tied back to people’s names which could allow hackers to identify who is close to whom.