EYEBROW RAISING: Albertson’s Agrees to Pay Nearly $6MM to Settle TCPA Revocation Class Action But That’s Only Half The Story Here

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On April 21, 2025 Plaintiffs ANTHONY KAMEL, LINNEA MENIN,
JASMINE OTTE, JENNIFER SCHOFIELD sued Albertson Companies, Inc. claiming it had violated the TCPA by sending SMS messages to each of them after a STOP request.

Complaint here: Albertsons

By May 19, 2025– less than a month later– the case had settled for nearly $6MM ($5,950,000.00 to be precise.)

So what the heck happened?

Now I have no inside baseball here but I suspect there were a series of cases involving Albertsons and that it desired to settle its liability and went with this case as the vehicle to do so for.. whatever reason. I suspect, therefore, the case was filed with Albertson’s aware it was coming– and perhaps even encouraging it.

Again, I don’t know this, but I dont see how a case settles in under a month for early $6MM without some sort of pre-game planning.

Interestingly the class is quite narrow and includes oly individuals who received marketing texts after a DNC request.

That’s right.

This is a DNC SMS class– generally among the weaker of claims given the availability of a good faith defense– and it is limited to individuals who received texts onlyafter an opt out request.

As we have noted several times on TCPAWorld.com there is a new wave of these freeform opt out cases crashing our shores. Many times a plaintiff will simply set up a lawsuit by using phrases they know automatic systems can’t pick up.

“NO”, “EXIT”, AND “I DO NOT WISH TO BE CONTACTED”: TCPA Class Action SMS Lawsuits from “Keyword Avoiders” Pour In

Perhaps that’s what Albertsons was thinking here.

APparently there are 283,000 people in the class– a number that tells me something might have been wrong systematically, which lead to the settlement– which means each class member is going to get $21.00 a pop.

That’s actually a decent number (for Albertson’s) considering the definition here- again EVERYBODY in the class received multiple texts after an opt out. In other words they all have valid claims.

So the price tag isn’t terrible. In fact there is probably a risk the settlement may not be approved because the class price is so low.

See its one thing if the class is broad– i.e. everyone that received a text–and the price per class member is low because presumptively most class members lack valid claims. Here, however, the predicate of liability is mostly established– i.e. two or marketing texts after a stop request.

Presumably many class members re-consented, and those who were texted probably were texted due to a good faith error by Albertsons (we assume). Plus there is the whole “are texts even subject to the DNC anymore” debate. So there are some arguments here– but a 4% recovery on an “up to” $500.00 claim?

Don’t know.

Anyway we will keep an eye on this one.

Claim Deadline is Wednesday, September 10, 2025. Final approval Oct. 3, 2025. So this is all coming up.

And if you want to avoid this sort of TCPA-related chaos be sure to educate yourself and request a copy of the TOTALLY FREE Troutman Amin, LLP TCPA Annual Review (2025 Ed.), presented by Contact Center Compliance!

Totally free. Just ask!

Chat soon.

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Published by Eric "Czar" Troutman

The Czar of TCPAWorld Eric Troutman is one of the country’s prominent class action defense lawyers and is nationally recognized in Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) litigation and compliance. He has served as lead defense counsel in more than 70 national TCPA class actions and has litigated nearly a thousand individual TCPA cases in his role as national strategic litigation counsel for major banks and finance companies. He also helps industry participants build TCPA-compliant processes, policies, and systems. Eric has built a national litigation practice based upon deep experience, rigorous analysis and extraordinary responsiveness. Eric and his team feel equally at home litigating multibillion dollar telecommunications class actions in federal court as they do developing and executing national litigation strategies for institutions facing an onslaught of individual TCPA matters. They thrive in each of these roles – delivering consistently excellent results – while never losing sight of the client experience. While many firms now tout TCPA expertise, Eric has been there from the beginning. He built one of the country’s first TCPA-only defense teams and began serving as national TCPA counsel for his clients nearly a decade ago. This perspective allows him to swiftly develop the right litigation strategies for dealing with recurring problems, without wasting time on tactics that are bound to fail. Eric’s rich historical perspective and encyclopedic knowledge of the TCPA landscape also make him an invaluable resource to institutional compliance teams struggling to comply with the shifting regulatory landscape. No task is too small – or too big. Indeed, Eric and his team have helped build TCPA-compliant systems and processes for some of the largest and most complex corporate entities in the country. He commonly works with in-house compliance counsel to build and implement enterprise and business-line specific TCPA solutions, performs TCPA audits and drafts and reviews proposed TCPA policies and procedures. He and his team also have the technical expertise necessary to assist call centers seeking to develop TCPA-resistant call path architecture or to modify existing telephony and software integration to better insulate from potential TCPA exposure. Eric has built a reputation for thought leadership. An avid blogger and speaker, he has been at the forefront of the industry’s effort to push for clarity and a return to sanity for the TCPA for years. He was selected to advocate for the financial services industry on important TCPA issues before the Federal Communications Commission and co-authored the nation’s only comprehensive practice guide on TCPA defense. In his spare time, Eric leads defense teams representing banks and other financial services companies in consumer finance litigation matters. He has experience representing clients in UCC, TILA, RESPA FCRA, CCRA, CLRA, FDCPA, RFDCPA and FCCPA claims, as well as in fraud and bank operations issues.

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