SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) – A federal judge dismissed one defendant in a lawsuit alleging unwanted text messages and granted another defendant's venue transfer motion.
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers filed the order granting Yelp's motion to dismiss and granted Wingmen V LLC's venue transfer motion on March 28 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Rogers said in the order that the court declined to rule on motions by two other defendants, Buffalo Wild Wings and Blazin' Wings.
Oral arguments were previously held in the case on Feb. 27.
Plaintiff Marche Meeks visited two locations for Buffalo Wild Wings in California in 2017 and both times there were no tables immediately available. He alleges he provided his cellphone number so that he could be alerted when a table was available, according to the suit. He alleged that later, he received a number of text messages advertising the defendants' services.
Meeks claimed the defendants violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
In Yelp's motion to dismiss, it argued that the plaintiff failed to plead sufficient facts that it had made or initiated the text messages Meeks received from giving his phone number to the Buffalo Wild Wings host regarding waiting for his table.
Gonzalez Rogers wrote that the plaintiff's allegations indicate the Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants were the ones to initiate the text messages and not Yelp.
She wrote it was the hostess at the restaurant and not Yelp who obtained the plaintiff's phone number and added him to the list who he could check his place in line.
Gonzalez Rogers wrote in the order that the plaintiff's allegations failed to establish Yelp as an active participant in the text messages.
Meeks' complaint establishes that Yelp did not initiate the text messages that he received, according to the motion.
Pertaining to Wingmen's motion for a venue transfer, Rogers granted the motion and directed the clerk of the court to transfer the case to the U.S. Central District of California.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California case number: 2:18-cv-02673