Brickman v. Facebook, Inc.

230 F. Supp. 3d 1036, 66 Communications Reg. (P&F) 233, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11849, 2017 WL 386238
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedJanuary 27, 2017
DocketCase No. 16-cv-00751-TEH
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 230 F. Supp. 3d 1036 (Brickman v. Facebook, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brickman v. Facebook, Inc., 230 F. Supp. 3d 1036, 66 Communications Reg. (P&F) 233, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11849, 2017 WL 386238 (N.D. Cal. 2017).

Opinion

ORDER DENYING FACEBOOK’S MOTION TO DISMISS

THELTON E. HENDERSON, United States District Judge

On August 9, 2016, Facebook filed a motion to dismiss Brickman’s First Amended Complaint (“FAC”) under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). ECF No. 50. Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 5.1, Facebook also filed a Notice of Constitutional Question to the Attorney General of the United States. ECF No. 51. And pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 5.1(c), the United States intervened in the case for the limited purpose of defending the constitutionality of the TCPA. ECF No. 62. Brickman and the United States timely opposed Facebook’s motion to dismiss, ECF Nos. 55, 63; and Face-book timely replied. ECF No. 64. On September 11, 2016, the Court requested supplemental briefing from both Brickman and Facebook addressing whether the TCPA and its exceptions would pass strict scrutiny. See ECF No. 68. Both parties submitted supplemental briefing. ECF Nos. 71-72. A hearing was held on Face-book’s motion on January 23, 2017. After carefully considering the parties’ written and oral arguments, the Court DENIES Facebook’s motion for the reasons set forth below.

I. BACKGROUND

The following factual allegations are taken from Plaintiff Brickman’s First Amended Complaint (“FAC”), unless otherwise stated, and are therefore accepted as true for the purposes of this motion. See Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555-56, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007).

Defendant Facebook, Inc. (“Facebook”) owns and operates the online social networking service, www.facebook.com. ECF No. 43. (“FAC”) ¶ 5. There are more than 156 million Facebook users in the United States, and more than 2 billion worldwide. Id. While Facebook does not own factories, physical product inventory, or saleable goods, it generates revenue from the activities of Facebook users. Id. ¶ 19. In fact, in its investment publications, Facebook defines each time a user engages on the Facebook platform as a “revenue-generating activity.” Id. ¶ 20. In an effort to increase user traffic, which in turn drives Facebook’s advertising revenue, Facebook [1039]*1039sent out “Birthday Announcements Texts” to cell phones of Facebook users inviting them to engage with the Facebook platform. Id. ¶ 5.

Facebook employed computer software to send Birthday Announcement Texts to users. Id. ¶ 67. Facebook’s computer system, without any human intervention, reviews user data on a daily basis to identify users who have birthdays on a particular day; identifies the user’s Facebook friends who will receive the Birthday Text Announcement Texts for a particular user’s birthday; identifies the phone numbers of the Facebook friends that will receive the message; automatically inserts the name of the user celebrating a birthday into a form text in the appropriate language for each of the user’s Facebook friends, creates the Birthday Announcement Text; compiles a list of cell phone numbers to which it will send Birthday Text Announcements, stores those cell phone numbers in a queue, and then sends the text messages from that queue. Id. ¶¶ 66-73.

On or about December 15, 2015, Face-book, through its short code SMS number 32665033, texted Brickman’s cell phone number an unsolicited Birthday Announcement Text stating “Today is Jim Stewart’s birthday. Reply to post a wish on his Time-fine or reply with 1 to post ‘Happy Birthday!’ ”. Id. ¶ 84. Although Brickman supplied Facebook his cell phone number, which is associated to his Facebook page, Brickman indicated in the Notification Settings of his Facebook account, prior to receiving the text message, that he did not want to receive any text messages from Facebook, and also did not activate text messaging for his cell phone. ¶¶ 2, 36, 79-82, 85. On February 2, 2016, Brickman filed a putative class action suit against Facebook, alleging that Facebook violates the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) by sending unauthorized text messages. ECF No. 1. He seeks to represent the following class: “All individuals who received one or more Birthday Announcement Texts from Defendant to a cell phone through the use of an automated telephone dialing system at any time without their consent.” FAC ¶ 97.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

Dismissal is appropriate under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) when a plaintiffs allegations fail to “state a claim upon which relief can be granted.” Fed R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). Specifically, a plaintiff must plead “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955. “The plausibility standard is not akin to a ‘probability requirement,’ but it asks for more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id.

In ruling on a motion to dismiss, a court must “accept all material allegations of fact as true and construe the complaint in a fight most favorable to the non-moving party.” Vasquez v. L.A. Cty., 487 F.3d 1246, 1249 (9th Cir. 2007). Courts are not “bound to accept as true a legal conclusion couched as a factual allegation.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (citation omitted). Dismissal of claims that fail to meet this standard should be with leave to amend, unless it is clear that amendment could not possibly cure the complaint’s deficiencies. Steckman v. Hart Brewing, Inc., 143 F.3d 1293, 1298 (9th Cir. 1998).

III. DISCUSSION

1. Brickman has Sufficiently Alleged a Violation of the TCPA.

A valid TCPA claim requires plaintiff to allege (1) Defendant called a [1040]*1040cellular telephone number; (2) using an automated telephone dialing system (“ATDS”); and (3) without the recipient’s prior express consent. Meyer v. Portfolio Recovery Assocs., 707 F.3d 1036, 1043 (9th Cir. 2012). A text message is a “call” within the meaning of the TCPA. Satterfield v. Simon & Schuster, Inc., 569 F.3d 946, 954 (9th Cir. 2009). The TCPA defines an automated telephone dialing system as “equipment which has the capacity to store or produce telephone numbers to be called, using a random or sequential number generator; and to dial such numbers.” 47 U.S.C. § 227(a)(1). The Ninth Circuit has determined this meaning to be “clear and unambiguous,” Satterfield,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Doohan v. CTB Investors, LLC
W.D. Missouri, 2019
Taylor v. KC VIN, LLC
W.D. Missouri, 2019
Katz v. Liberty Power Corp., LLC
D. Massachusetts, 2019
Victory Processing, LLC v. Michael
333 F. Supp. 3d 1263 (D. Wyoming, 2018)
Am. Ass'n of Political Consultants v. Sessions
323 F. Supp. 3d 737 (E.D. North Carolina, 2018)
Gallion v. Charter Commc'ns Inc.
287 F. Supp. 3d 920 (C.D. California, 2018)
Victory Processing, LLC v. Fox
307 F. Supp. 3d 1109 (D. Montana, 2018)
Greenley v. Laborers' International Union
271 F. Supp. 3d 1128 (D. Minnesota, 2017)
Thomas v. Schroer
248 F. Supp. 3d 868 (W.D. Tennessee, 2017)
Holt v. Facebook, Inc.
240 F. Supp. 3d 1021 (N.D. California, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
230 F. Supp. 3d 1036, 66 Communications Reg. (P&F) 233, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11849, 2017 WL 386238, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brickman-v-facebook-inc-cand-2017.