LOS ANGELES — A Philadelphia woman is suing a retail chain company, alleging she was sent text message advertisements that she didn't subscribe to.
Diana Soukhaphonh filed a class action lawsuit individually and on behalf of on behalf of all others similarly situated July 12 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against Hot Topic, Inc., alleging violation of the Telephone Consume Protection Act ..
According to the complaint, Soukhaphonh created an account on Hot Topic's website to place an order. On the online form, the suit says, the plaintiff was asked for her subscription preference, to which she chose "email" and refused to be alerted via SMS.
Despite that request, the lawsuit states, the plaintiff received SMS text message advertisements from the defendant, which wasted her valuable time and effort.
The plaintiff alleges Hot Topic ignored her decision and preference to receive notifications via email only. As a result, the suit states, the plaintiff's data storage capacity was reduced, her battery diminished and the messages caused her to be distracted and aggravated.
Soukhaphonh seeks a trial by jury, injunctive relief prohibiting such violations of the TCPA in the future, $500 in statutory damages for every SMS text message that violated the TCPA, $1,500 for every SMS text message that violated the TCPA, attorney fees, legal costs and that the case be declared a class action suit. She is represented by attorneys Robert Ahdoot, Tina Wolfson and Meredith S. Lierz of Ahdoot & Wolfson PC in West Hollywood, California, and by Frank Hedin and David Milian of Carey Rodriguez Milian Gonya LLP in Miami.
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California Case number 2:16-cv-05124-DMG-AGR