Woman sues supermarket chain for 'harassment' and 'invasion of privacy' over three unwanted promotional text messages

A Massachusetts woman has filed a class action lawsuit against a supermarket chain alleging that the company would not stop texting her promotional messages despite her asking the company to stop.

Linnea Menin said she first replied "STOP" to supermarket chain Star Market on June 23, 2023. She then received a message in response that said "You've opted out and will not receive Offers & Promo text messages."

After that, the woman alleged, the company sent what amounted to three unsolicited texts messages on June 30, July 7, and July 14, 2023, according to WBZ-News in Boston. After the first two unwanted messages, the woman said "STOP" again but still received a third.

The class action lawsuit stated that the "illegal conduct" of the supermarket chain had resulted in "the invasion of privacy, harassment, aggravation, and disruption of the daily life of thousands of individuals."

The lawsuit also alleged that the messages violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and claimed that the members of the class action should be paid $1,500 for each unwanted text message they have received.

The law requires that companies must give people the option to opt out of marketing text message promotions and must not contact the recipients through the same medium from which they opted out.

“As demonstrated by the [available] screenshots, Defendant does not honor consumer requests to opt-out of text message solicitations,” the lawsuit stated, according to Boston.com.

It also said that Menin was not provided with any other way to opt out of the text messages, either. The plaintiff's argument speculated that Star Market may not have standard policies, procedures, or adequate training for text message marketers that may have resulted in an improper handling of the situation.

The company is reportedly required by law to maintain an internal do-not-call list.

Star Market is a supermarket chain in the New England area that has existed for over 100 years. It is owned by Jewel-Osco, another regional supermarket chain from Chicago. Jewel-Osco is owned by Albertsons, a much larger grocery company whose revenue neared $72 billion in 2021.

Albertsons did not return a request for comment by WBZ-News or Boston.com.

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