The United States District Court for the Northern
District of Illinois granted final approval of a $49.9 million Telephone
Consumer Protection Act class action settlement against US Coachways,
Inc on November 9.
The plaintiffs filed the original Complaint against US Coachways on July 29,
2014, alleging that the motor coach leasing company sent out thousands
of unlawful text messages to whom they hoped were potential customers
in violation of the TCPA. The lead plaintiff allegedly received more
than 20 unsolicited text message advertisements.
The class consists of “all persons within the United
States who received one or more text advertisements on behalf of US
Coachways, Inc. at any time in the four years prior to the filing of the
Complaint continuing through the date of the Settlement Agreement.”
There were no requests for exclusion and no objections from the class,
which consists of more than 85,000 individuals.
US Coachways cannot fund the settlement and tendered
a claim for coverage to its insurer for defense and indemnity, but
the insurance company denied coverage. US Coachways has now assigned its rights against the insurer to Plaintiff and the
class, and agreed to contribute $50,000 which was applied toward the
cost of notice to the class. Plaintiff and his counsel will next pursue
an action against the insurer to collect on the $49.9 million judgment.
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