Class Certification – Sanctions

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Nicole Blow v. Bijora, Inc.,

Case No.: 16-1484; 16-1608

Officials: RIPPLE, KANNE, and ROVNER, Circuit Judges

Focus: Class Certification – Sanctions

In May 2011, Nicole Strickler brought this class‐action lawsuit against Chicago‐based retailer Bijora, Inc., doing business as Akira  Strickler was later replaced as named plaintiff by Nicole Blow, who alleged that Akira’s practice of sending promotional text messages violates the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”), 47 U.S.C. § 227, and the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, 815 ILCS 505/1‐12, and sought approximately $1.8 billion in damages. The district court ultimately certified a class of individuals with a series of Illinois telephone area codes who had received automated texts from Akira in the preceding four years. After Strickler filed her third amended complaint, Akira impleaded the company that supplied its software for the text transmissions, Opt It, Inc. Opt It then settled its claims with Strickler, who was replaced by Blow as the named plaintiff in the suit against Akira. On Blow and Akira’s cross motions for summary judgment,thedistrict court ultimately granted summary judgment in favor of Akira after concluding that Blow had failed to demonstrate that Akira used an automatic telephone dialing system in violation of the TCPA. Blow appeals, and Akira cross‐appeals, challenging the class certification and renewing its request for sanctions against Blow’s counsel for alleged misconduct and frivolous filings. As detailed below, we affirm the judgment of the district court, although on different grounds.

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.