The United States Congress passed the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) to prevent companies from making unsolicited phone calls to consumers. In a groundbreaking class action settlement, Roche Diagnostics has agreed to pay compensation to pharmacies that received the company’s unsolicited faxes. Plaintiff Econo-Med filed the class action lawsuit against Roche Diagnostics in April of 2016. According to court documents, Econo-Med asserted that “Junk faxes disrupt recipients’ peace, drain recipients’ paper, ink and toner, and cause recipients tangible damage. Junk faxes also cause recipients to waste valuable time retrieving and discerning the purpose of the faxes; prevent fax machines from receiving and sending authorized faxes; and cause undue wear and tear on recipients’ fax machines.”
Econo-Med claimed that Roche diagnostics violated the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act and the federal government mandated (TCPA). Pharmacies that received one or more Roche Diagnostic fax advertisements between April 11, 2012 and March 17, 2017 join the list of eligible class members. Econo-Med also states in the class action lawsuit that unsolicited faxes inhibit the flow of patient documents pharmacies need to process medication requests. The disruption in the flow of faxed patient documents represented the most effective legal argument the plaintiffs made by invoking the TCPA.
Approved on March 17, 2017 the Roche Diagnostic class action settlement does not require Roche Diagnostics to admit fault in the case. The company has agreed to settle the junk fax class action lawsuit to avoid the uncertainty of litigation.
What You Need To Know
Class members who want to opt out of the settlement or contest any element of the agreement have until July 17, 2017 to file paperwork with the class administrator. According to class counsel, the potential award for class members should exceed $500. Payments distribute on a pro rata scale based on the number of valid and timely claim form submissions. Class members that want to learn about changes in the potential award for class members can find the information at www.RDCSettlement.com
On the claim form, eligible class members must include the fax number where Roche Diagnostics sent the unsolicited faxes. The court administrator will confirm the validity of the submitted pharmacy fax numbers. Class members have until July 17, 2017 to file a claim form. Filed under the case name Econo-Med Pharmacy v. Roche Diagnostics Corp., Case No. 1:16-cv-00789-TWP-MPB, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, the class action settlement conducts the final hearing for the case on September 20, 2017.
Class Counsel for the pharmacy plaintiffs includes a group of attorneys from the law firms Cohen & Malad LLP and Carney Bates & Pullman PLLC. Eric Bosset of Covington & Burling represents the defense counsel.
