Tallahassee Dodge TCPA Settlement

Settlement Checks were issued in July, 2018 to eligible claimants pursuant to the terms of the Settlement Agreement to eligible claimants who submitted a timely Claim Form. The Settlement Check you received constitutes full satisfaction of your Claim.

Please negotiate the check promptly. The check is only valid for 90 days from the issue date.

Each Settlement Class Member who timely submits a valid Claim Form by the Claims Deadline shall be entitled to a single payment from Defendant in an amount equivalent to his or her pro rata share of the Settlement Fund after any approved Fee Award, any approved service awards, and Settlement Administration Costs are deducted. Each Settlement Class Member shall be entitled to receive an amount equal to the Settlement Class Recovery divided by the total number of Approved Claims.

If you filed a claim but did not receive a Settlement Check, then you may not be eligible for a payment under the terms of the Settlement Agreement. Settlement Checks were issued in July, 2018 to eligible Settlement Class Members on a claims-made basis. To receive a settlement check, you must have submitted a timely and eligible claim prior to the filing deadline.

To request a replacement check, please include a signed written request asking that a replacement check be reissued and mailed to you. Please mail your replacement check request the Settlement Administrator at:

Tallahassee Dodge Settlement Administrator
P.O. Box 6006
Portland, OR 97228-6006

If you are unable to return the initial settlement check, for the protection of the Settlement Fund, a replacement check can only be issued to you after the initial settlement check passes its stale date. Your replacement check could be issued sooner if the initial check returns to the Settlement Administrator as undeliverable, or if you are able to locate and return the check to the Settlement Administrator at Tallahassee Dodge Settlement Administrator, P.O. Box 6006, Portland, OR 97208-6006.

First, please go to the financial institution at which you are a current account holder as they may negotiate the settlement check if the documentation regarding the status of your name change is presented.

If the financial institution will not accept the check, please return the original check to the Settlement Administrator at Tallahassee Dodge Settlement Administrator, P.O. Box 6006, Portland, OR 97208-6006, accompanied by a signed written request asking that a replacement check be issued and mailed to you. Please include instructions for the name that should be included on the replacement check and include a copy of a form of identification that contains the new name.

To request a replacement check mailed to an updated address, please include a signed written request asking that a replacement check be reissued and mailed to you. Include in the request your current and former mailing addresses. Please mail your replacement check request to the Settlement Administrator at:

Tallahassee Dodge Settlement Administrator
P.O. Box 6006
Portland, OR 97228-6006

If you are unable to return the initial settlement check, for the protection of the Settlement Fund, a replacement check can only be issued to you after the initial settlement check passes its stale date. Your replacement check could be issued sooner if the initial check returns to the Settlement Administrator as undeliverable, or if you are able to locate and return the check to the Settlement Administrator at Tallahassee Dodge Settlement Administrator, P.O. Box 6006, Portland, OR 97208-6006.

First, please go to the financial institution at which you are a current account holder as they may negotiate the settlement check if documentation regarding the status of the claimant and your status as the beneficiary/executor is presented.

If your financial institution will not accept the check, please provide a Death Certificate of the person on the settlement check, as well documentation of your legal authority to file on behalf of the Claimant(s), for example, Orders of Estate or Letters of Administration.

Send all documents, along with the original check, to the Settlement Administrator at Tallahassee Dodge Settlement Administrator, P.O. Box 6006, Portland, OR 97208-6006.

A court authorized the Notice because you have a right to know about a proposed settlement of a class action lawsuit known as Seth F. Masson, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated, v. Tallahassee Dodge Chrysler Jeep, LLC, Case No. 1:17-22967 and about all of your options before the Court decides whether to give Final Approval to the Settlement. The Notice explains the lawsuit, the Settlement, and your legal rights.

Judge Federico A. Moreno of the United States District Court, Southern District of Florida is overseeing this case. The person who sued, Seth F. Masson, is called the “Plaintiff.” TDJC, is called the “Defendant.”

If you would like to review a copy of the Notice, you may download a copy here.

The lawsuit alleges that TDJC sent text messages to Plaintiff’s wireless telephone number without prior express written consent in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act 47 U.S.C. § 227 (“TCPA”) and seeks actual and statutory damages under the TCPA on behalf of the named Plaintiff and a class of all individuals in the United States.

TDJC denies each and every allegation of wrongdoing, liability, and damages that were or could have been asserted in the litigation and that the claims in the litigation would be appropriate for class treatment if the litigation were to proceed through trial.

The Plaintiff’s Complaint, Settlement Agreement, and other case-related documents are posted on the Documents Page of this website. The Settlement resolves the lawsuit. The Court has not decided who is right.

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (commonly referred to as the “TCPA”) is a federal law that restricts telephone solicitations and the use of automated telephone equipment. The Plaintiff here alleged that TDJC sent marketing text messages to individuals without the requisite prior written consent in violation of the TCPA.

In a class action, one person called the “Class Representative” (in this case, Plaintiff Seth F. Masson) sues on behalf of himself and other people with similar claims.

Tallahassee Dodge Settlement Administrator
P.O. Box 6006
Portland, OR 97228-6006

If you are unable to return the initial settlement check, for the protection of the Settlement Fund, a replacement check can only be issued to you after the initial settlement check passes its stale date. Your replacement check could be issued sooner if the initial check returns to the Settlement Administrator as undeliverable, or if you are able to locate and return the check to the Settlement Administrator at Tallahassee Dodge Settlement Administrator, P.O. Box 6006, Portland, OR 97208-6006.

First, please go to the financial institution at which you are a current account holder as they may negotiate the settlement check if the documentation regarding the status of your name change is presented.

If the financial institution will not accept the check, please return the original check to the Settlement Administrator at Tallahassee Dodge Settlement Administrator, P.O. Box 6006, Portland, OR 97208-6006, accompanied by a signed written request asking that a replacement check be issued and mailed to you. Please include instructions for the name that should be included on the replacement check and include a copy of a form of identification that contains the new name.

The Settlement includes all persons in the United States who received one or more text messages sent by or on behalf of TDJC between July 27, 2017 and July 31, 2017. These people are called the “Settlement Class” or “Settlement Class Members.”

Excluded from the Settlement Class are (A) Defendant, Defendant’s officers, Defendant’s directors, and their immediate family members; (B) Class Counsel; and (C) the judges who have presided over the litigation and their immediate family members.

If you are not sure whether you are in the Settlement Class or have any other questions about the Settlement, review the Long-Form Notice or call the toll-free number, 1-844-551-1722. You also may send questions to the Settlement Administrator at Tallahassee Dodge TCPA Settlement Administrator, P.O. Box 6006, Portland, OR 97228-6006.

TDJC has agreed to pay $850,000.00 to create a cash Settlement Fund. The Settlement Fund will be used to pay all Settlement Costs, an attorneys’ fee award, and a Service Award to the Class Representative. The remaining Net Settlement Fund shall be distributed as cash payments to Settlement Class Members who submit valid Claims. The cash payments will be distributed on a pro rata basis to Settlement Class Members depending on the number of valid Claims filed. Each Settlement Class Member may file one Claim and receive one cash payment.

If you qualify for a cash payment, you must complete and submit a valid Claim Form. You can file your Claim Form online here or download a Claim Form here and email it to info@TDTCPAsettlement.com or send it by U.S. Mail to the address below. The deadline to file a Claim online or via email is 11:59 p.m. EST on May 22, 2018.

If you received a Claim Form in the mail with a Postcard Notice, simply complete, sign, and mail the form by U.S. Mail to the address below. The postage is pre-paid and there is no need for a stamp.

Claim Forms submitted by mail must be postmarked on or before May 22, 2018 to:

Tallahassee Dodge Settlement Administrator
P.O. Box 6006
Portland, OR 97228-6006

No matter which method you choose to file your Claim Form, please read the Claim Form carefully and provide all the information required. Only one Claim Form may be submitted per Settlement Class Member.

Payments to Settlement Class Members will be made only after the Court grants Final Approval to the Settlement and after any appeals are resolved (see FAQ 26). If there are appeals, resolving them can take time. Please be patient.

If you do not want benefits from the Settlement, and you want to keep the right to sue or continue to sue TDJC on your own about the legal issues in this case, then you must take steps to get out of the Settlement. This is called excluding yourself—or it is sometimes referred to as “opting out” of the Settlement Class.

To exclude yourself from the Settlement, you must send a timely letter by mail to:

Tallahassee Dodge Settlement Administrator
P.O. Box 6006
Portland, OR 97228-6006

Your request to be excluded from the Settlement must be personally signed by you under penalty of perjury and contain a statement that indicates your desire to be “excluded from the Settlement Class” and that, absent of excluding yourself or “opting out,” you are “otherwise a member of the Settlement Class.”

Your exclusion request must be postmarked no later than April 6, 2018. You cannot ask to be excluded on the phone, by email, or at this website.

You may opt out of the Settlement Class only for yourself.

No. Unless you exclude yourself, you give up the right to sue TDJC for the claims that the Settlement resolves. You must exclude yourself from this Settlement Class in order to pursue your own lawsuit.

Unless you opt out of the Settlement, you cannot sue or be part of any other lawsuit against TDJC about the issues in this case, including any existing litigation, arbitration, or proceeding. Unless you exclude yourself, all of the decisions and judgments by the Court will bind you.

The Settlement Agreement is available here. The Settlement Agreement provides more detail regarding the Releases and describes the Released Claims with specific descriptions in necessary, accurate legal terminology, so read it carefully. You can talk to the law firms representing the Settlement Class listed in FAQ 22 for free, or you can, at your own expense, talk to your own lawyer if you have any questions about the Released Claims or what they mean.

No. You will not get a payment from the Settlement Fund if you exclude yourself from the Settlement.

The Court has appointed the following lawyers as “Class Counsel” to represent all members of the Settlement Class.

You will not be charged for these lawyers. If you want to be represented by another lawyer, you may hire one to appear in court for you at your own expense.

Class Counsel intend to request up to 30% of the value of the Settlement for attorneys’ fees plus reimbursement of reasonable, actual out-of-pocket expenses incurred in the litigation. The fees and expenses awarded by the Court will be paid out of the Settlement Fund. The Court will decide the amount of fees and expenses to award.

Class Counsel will also request that a Service Award of $5,000.00 be paid from the Settlement Fund to the Class Representative for his service as representative on behalf of the whole Settlement Class.

If you are a Settlement Class Member (and do not exclude yourself from the Settlement Class), you can object to any part of the Settlement. To object, you must timely submit a letter that includes the following:

1. A heading that includes the case name and case number, Seth F. Masson, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated, v. Tallahassee Dodge Chrysler Jeep, LLC, Case No. 1:17-cv-22967;
2. Your name, address, telephone number, the cell phone number at which you received text messages from TDJC between July 27, 2017 and July 31, 2017, and if represented by counsel, the name, bar number, address, and telephone number of your counsel;
3. A signed statement stating, under penalty of perjury, that you received one or more text messages sent by or on behalf of TDJC between July 27, 2017 and July 31, 2017 and are a member of the Settlement Class;
4. A statement of all your objections to the Settlement including your legal and factual basis for each objection;
5. A statement of whether you intend to appear at the Final Approval Hearing, either with or without counsel, and if with counsel, the name of your counsel who will attend;
6. The number of times in which your counsel and/or counsel’s law firm have objected to a class action settlement within the five years preceding the date that you file the objection, the caption of each case in which counsel or the firm has made such objection, and a copy of any orders related to or ruling upon counsel’s or the firm’s prior objections that were issued by the trial and appellate courts in each listed case;
7. A list of all persons who will be called to testify at the Final Approval Hearing in support of the objection; and
8. Any and all agreements that relate to the objection or the process of objecting—whether written or verbal—between you or your counsel and any other person or entity.

If you wish to object, you must file your objection with the Court (using the Court’s electronic filing system or in any manner in which the Court accepts filings) and mail your objection to each of the following three (3) addresses, and your objection must be postmarked by April 6, 2018.

Objecting is telling the Court that you do not like something about the Settlement. You can object to the Settlement only if you do not exclude yourself. Excluding yourself is telling the Court that you do not want to be part of the Settlement. If you exclude yourself, you have no basis to object to the Settlement because it no longer affects you.

The Court will hold a hearing to decide whether to approve the Settlement and any requests for fees and expenses (“Final Approval Hearing”).

The Court has scheduled a Final Approval Hearing on May 8, 2018 at 2:15 p.m. at the United States Courthouse, Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. Building, Courtroom 13-3, 400 N. Miami Avenue, Miami, FL 33128. The hearing may be moved to a different date or time without additional notice, so it is a good idea to check this website for updates. At this hearing, the Court will consider whether the Settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate. The Court will also consider the requests by Class Counsel for attorneys’ fees and expenses and for a Service Award to the Class Representative. If there are objections, the Court will consider them at that time. After the hearing, the Court will decide whether to approve the Settlement. It is unknown how long these decisions will take.

No. Class Counsel will answer any questions the Court may have. But, you are welcome to attend the hearing at your own expense. If you send an objection, you do not have to come to court to talk about it. As long as you submitted your written objection on time to the proper addresses and it complies with all the other requirements set forth above, the Court will consider it. You may also pay your own lawyer to attend the hearing, but it is not necessary.

You may ask the Court for permission to speak at the Final Approval Hearing. To do so, your timely filed objection must include a statement of whether you intend to appear at the Final Approval Hearing (see FAQ 24).

You cannot speak at the hearing if you exclude yourself from the Settlement.

If you are a Settlement Class member and do nothing, meaning you do not file a timely Claim, you will not get benefits from the Settlement. Further, unless you exclude yourself, you will be bound by the judgment entered by the Court.

This website summarizes the proposed Settlement. You are urged to review more details in the Settlement Agreement for a complete, definitive statement of the Settlement terms. You also may write with questions to the Settlement Administrator at Tallahassee Dodge Settlement Administrator, P.O. Box 6006, Portland, OR 97228-6006 or call the toll-free number, 1-844-551-1722.