On March 16, 2015, M&G Auto Parts Inc. (M&G) filed a proposed class action against Blimpie International Inc. (Blimpie) sub shops for its junk fax advertisements for daily lunch specials, which were sent on countless occasions between February and March 2015 in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). If the New Jersey federal court certifies the class, Blimpie could be on the hook for all similar faxes sent to others in the past four years! M&G’s complaint states that unlike other forms of advertising, these junk faxes cost the recipient money and because “it may take several minutes to receive an unsolicited fax, and that during that time, the fax machine may be unable to process actual business communications.”
M&G’s complaint also states that Blimpie used a “fax blaster” company to conduct this unsolicited advertising. Faxertise Inc., a third party that sends restaurant lunch specials via fax to businesses in its customer clients’ delivery areas, can send up to 800 faxes per day on behalf of each of its customer clients. While the Blimpie advertisement did say ‘thanks for subscribing to this service,’ M&G contends that it never signed up for any such service, and that it does not have an established business relationship with Blimpie (which is an exception to the prohibitions of unsolicited faxes under the TCPA). We’ll keep you posted on the result.