Papa John's outlet in Durham, North Carolina. Image via Wikimedia Commons
The US pizza chain Papa John’s is facing a US$250m lawsuit in the US after allegedly bombarding its customers with some 500,000 spam text messages to advertise pizza products back in 2010.
The pizza chain, which has some 4,000 Papa John’s franchises globally, is facing the class action lawsuit for sending 500,000 unwanted text messages in early 2010, according to CNN Money, which said some customers complained they had received between 15 and 16 texts in a row offering pizza deals.
CNN reported that Papa John’s sent the texts through the messaging service OnTime4U, which is also a defendant in the case.
The nationwide class-action case against Papa John’s International was certified in Seattle on 9 November by the U.S. District Court Judge John Coughenour.
In the US, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 prohibits companies from sending advertisements via text message unless the customer agrees to the service.
“After I ordered from Papa John’s, my telephone started beeping with text messages advertising pizza specials. Papa John’s never asked permission to send me text message advertisements,” said Erin Chutich, one of the plaintiffs in the case.
