This is just silly,
Whopper of a Lawsuit: Woman Wants Burger King to Pay for Text Messages
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| Jpellger via Flicker CC |
Espinal's contention: Burger King "caused actual harm" by harassing her with the "cryptic" messages, according the lawsuit. Espinal was "subjected to aggravation" and made to pay for receiving them. Now she is seeking -- get this -- $5 million in relief.
God bless the American legal system.
In April 2008, Espinal's phone beeped. The text was labeled "99143 " instead of showing a return number, and the sender seemed, well, kind of bossy. "Kick it up a notch with a loaded steakhouse burger," it read. "Try one today at BK."
She immediately wrote back, "Stop." But two months later, Espinal received an identical message, and in August 2008, she received a third. "Stop by BK for a refreshing Mocha BK Joe Iced Coffee," it read this time. "A perfect mix of rich coffee and chocolate syrup."
Frustrated, she filed a federal lawsuit in April 2009, alleging Burger King violated Section 47 of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, "which prohibits unsolicited voice and text calls to cellular phones." Corporate spokespeople, Espinal, and her lawyers declined to comment.
The case is still open. She filed it as a class action, but it hasn't been certified yet. We're guessing other text recipients just sighed and then paid the bill with pennies from the couch.
If she gets 5 million for 3 harmless text messages how much can I sue my ex for? He sent me a couple of dozen insulting ones over two days.
ReplyDeleteThe REALLY sad thing isn't that some lawyer actually took the case but that she'll actually probably win something.
It seems the people try to take advantage of the US legal system. she should have to pay the court for wasting their time rather than her being able to get 5 million dollars. First off, the messages weren't offensive, secondly she got three messages over the course of 5 months. I don't think she has the right to sue for anything. If the messages were offensive and if dozens were sent during a short period of time then it seems more logical to sue, but even then, 5 million is just too absurd.
ReplyDelete