Plaintiff’s Class Action Accuses 2nd Former GOP Candidate of TCPA Wrongdoing
Ryan Binkley, who suspended his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination Feb. 27, placed prerecorded calls and sent text-message solicitations to consumers’ cellphones to promote his telephonic town hall events without first obtaining their prior express consent, alleged Thomas Grant’s…
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Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action Monday (docket 3:24-cv-01286) in U.S. District Court for Northern Texas in Dallas. Grant alleges that Binkley “expressly authorized” the making of these prerecorded calls “or knew that they were going to be made for his personal benefit, to promote his presidential candidacy, and did nothing to stop them,” said the complaint. “Binkley controlled the timing of calls, right before his telephonic town hall events,” it said. Binkley also actively promoted his town hall events through his personal social media channels, including on Facebook and Instagram, it said. Binkley also controlled the recipients of the calls “by dictating that the messages be sent to voters registered as independents,” including Grant, it said. The plaintiff seeks injunctive relief to stop Binkley from violating the TCPA, plus an award of statutory damages to the members of the class and court costs and attorneys’ fees, said the complaint. The Hudson, New Hampshire, resident alleges that Binkley or his campaign sent five calls or text messages to his cellphone in late January without his consent. The unauthorized solicitation phone calls and text messages that Grant received from or on behalf of the defendant have harmed the plaintiff “in the form of annoyance, nuisance, and invasion of privacy,” plus they have occupied his phone line, and disturbed the use and enjoyment of his phone, said the complaint. Grant sued another former Republican presidential candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy, Jan. 23 on similar allegations (see 2401240002). Ramaswamy has blasted that complaint as a “shakedown,” contending that Grant should have targeted Ramaswamy’s campaign, Vivek 2024, as the proper TCPA defendant (see 2403250026).