Former Illinois Gov. Ruaner to settle robocall lawsuit for $1 million

SPRINGFIELD – Individuals attacked by a campaign robocall by former Governor Bruce Rauner since its first campaign in 2014 are eligible for part of a $ 1 million settlement agreement reached in a class action lawsuit last month.

The deal would end the federal lawsuit against the former governor and his campaign organization, Citizens for Rauner, filed by Peter Garvey, an Illinois resident, who received three pre-recorded voicemails from Rauner’s campaign in 2018.

According to the Settlement Notice website, the amount owed each person has not been determined because the total number of class plaintiffs and settlement administration costs and attorney fees have not yet been finalized.

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The number of class members could exceed 35,000, according to Garvey’s lawsuit.

As part of the settlement agreement, Rauner and his campaign deny all allegations of wrongdoing and have made it a lawsuit.

The campaign’s robocalls, which left pre-recorded voicemails on Garvey’s cell phone, encouraged people to vote for Rauner in the upcoming March 2018 primaries.

The 30-second message in Rauner’s voice said in part, “Illinois is worth fighting for, and with real reform we can together bring Illinois back and create the future our children deserve. Please join me in the fight against Mike Madigan and his allies. I ask for your vote on Tuesday, March 20th. “

The messages were left via so-called “ringless voicemails”, a technology with which voicemail messages are transmitted in the same way as text messages.

The lawsuit alleged that the ringing voicemails to class members like Garvey violated federal phone consumer protection law.

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A federal TCPA violation is defined as placing “any call (other than an emergency call or with the prior express consent of the callee) using an automatic telephone dialing system or artificial or recorded voice … to any telephone number assigned to a … cellular service … “

Under the TCPA, individuals or companies who violate the law must pay at least $ 500 in damages per violation.

Garvey’s lawsuit argued that the voice messages caused him and classmates “real harm, including invasion of privacy, anger, anger, seclusion, trespassing and conversion”.

Last month, a federal judge tentatively approved the proposed settlement agreement. The final hearing on the agreement is scheduled for September 7th.

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John Sawin, a Chicago attorney representing Garvey and the class, did not respond to a request for comment. Rauner’s lawyers and his campaign also did not respond to a statement.

The deadline for class members to submit claim forms and be eligible for monetary compensation from the settlement fund of $ 1 million is August 11th.

For more information on settling or filing a claim, visit CitizensForRaunerTCPASettlement.com.

Sarah Mansur: [email protected]

Capitol News Illinois is a non-profit, non-partisan news service that covers state government and is distributed to more than 400 newspapers across the state. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

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