The United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama recently granted final approval of a class action settlement against Boyd Biloxi LLC, alleging that Biloxi sent telemarketing messages that violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. 

The class action Complaint was originally filed on July 16, 2014.  The named plaintiff alleged that Biloxi made calls to him and the putative class members offering free tickets to concerts or other special promotions.  After engaging in discovery for more than a year, the parties reached a settlement through mediation.  

The settlement class consists of “all persons who, since October 16, 2013 through May 11, 2016, received a telephone call to a residential or cellular telephone number initiated by, on behalf of or at the direction of Boyd Biloxi which used an artificial and/or pre-recorded voice message or was placed by an automatic telephone dialing system [“ATDS”].”  The class consists of over 68,000 individuals.  33 class members submitted requests for exclusion, and two pro se objections were filed. 

Each class member who submits a valid claim will receive a $150 gift card for food, beverages, concert tickets, hotel rooms, or gift shop items at Boyd Biloxi properties.  The company also agreed to implement policies for its marketing activities using prerecorded messages or an ATDS to comply with the TCPA.  The settlement agreement further provides for an attorneys’ fee award of up to $2 million and an incentive award of $3,500 for the named plaintiff.