Tag Archives: Settlements

by

Two Texting Settlements, Two Different Mistakes: What Teleflora and Coast Dental Should Teach Every SMS Program

October brought two TCPA texting settlements worth studying side by side. One company allegedly texted people on the National Do Not Call Registry who never gave it their number. The other allegedly kept texting people after they replied STOP. Different failures, same result: a class action and a settlement fund in the millions.

Teleflora: $6 million over promotional texts to DNC numbers

In Carter v. Teleflora LLC, Case No. 2026-012979-CA-01, in the Circuit Court of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Teleflora agreed to pay $6 million to settle claims that it sent telemarketing texts without consent and without checking the National Do Not Call Registry. The plaintiff says she received multiple texts even though she never gave Teleflora her number. Teleflora denies wrongdoing.

The class covers people who never gave Teleflora their phone number, received more than one promotional text within a 12-month period starting May 9, 2021, and whose number had been on the National DNC Registry for at least 30 days. The estimated payment is about $251 per class member. The settlement received preliminary approval on August 26, 2026; claims, opt-outs and objections are due November 17, and the final approval hearing is set for November 25.

Coast Dental: up to $3.84 million over texts after STOP

In Chaviano v. Coast Dental Services, LLC, filed in Florida on July 6, 2026, Coast Dental agreed to pay up to $3,840,664. The suit alleged that the company sent appointment-related marketing texts and calls after consumers asked it to stop, in violation of the TCPA and the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act.

The class, roughly 24,308 people, covers individuals who received more than one appointment reminder or scheduling text within a 12-month period after replying “stop” or a similar opt-out. Class members can choose a pro rata cash payment of up to $59 or a voucher of up to $99 toward an electronic toothbrush. Preliminary approval came August 31, the final approval hearing is December 9, and claims are due December 24, 2026.

The operator’s read

These are not exotic legal theories. They are basic process failures, and they are the kind that scale. One missing suppression step touches every message in a campaign, which is exactly what makes a case certifiable as a class.

Here is what to check on your own program this week:

  • DNC scrubbing for SMS. If you send promotional texts to numbers you did not collect directly with consent, run them against the National DNC Registry first. Teleflora’s class is defined by registry status.
  • STOP handling end to end. Test it. Reply STOP to your own short code and confirm every platform that can send to that number stops, including reminder and scheduling flows that marketing may not think of as marketing.
  • Know where every number came from. “Never gave us their number” is a hard fact pattern to defend.
  • Watch your Florida exposure. Both cases were filed in Florida, and Coast Dental’s included a state-law claim on top of the TCPA.

Add a litigator screen

Consent and suppression are the foundation. A litigator screen is the next layer. TCPALitigatorList.com lets outbound and SMS teams check numbers against known TCPA litigators before a send, pulling the contacts most likely to file out of a campaign before they ever receive a message. It works alongside DNC scrubbing and opt-out handling, not in place of them.

Don’t forget the paper trail

If one of these claims ever lands on your desk, the first questions will be simple: where did this number come from, what did the person agree to, and when did they opt out? Make sure your team can answer all three from records, not memory. Pull a random sample of numbers each month and try it. If you cannot reconstruct the history in a few minutes, a plaintiff’s lawyer will happily do it for you.

Bottom line

A texting program does not need a dramatic mistake to end up in a settlement. It needs one gap repeated across every message. Close the gaps before the volume does the damage.

Sources