Charvat v. Resort Marketing Group Class Action Lawsuit - Maximum Payment of $900

Recipients of cruise line telemarketing phone calls from Carnival, Norwegian or Royal Caribbean can claim benefits from a recent class action settlement.

Plaintiff Philip Charvat claims he received prerecorded cruise line telemarketing calls from defendant Resort Marketing Group Inc. These calls allegedly offered promotions from Carnival, Norwegian, and Royal Caribbean cruise lines, each of whom is also named as a defendant in this telemarketing class action lawsuit.

Charvat accused Carnival, Norwegian, and Royal Caribbean of contracting with Resort Marketing Group to initiate these cruise line telemarketing calls. He claimed that nether the cruise line companies nor Resort Marketing Group ever received prior express written consent from him allowing them to contact him in that manner.

Without such consent, Charvat argued the defendant's cruise line telemarketing violated the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act, or TCPA.

The TCPA imposes substantial penalties on companies that knowingly violate its telemarketing restrictions. It generally forbids telemarketers from making calls using automated dialing equipment and prerecorded messages, unless the person being called has given the caller prior express written consent to be contacted that way.

The TCPA is also the legal authority behind the National Do Not Call Registry. Anyone who does not want to receive calls from telemarketers can list their phone number on this registry. The number becomes off-limits to telemarketers 30 days after its listed.

Persons who receive calls that violate the TCPA can bring a civil TCPA lawsuit against the caller. Callers who commit knowing or willful violations may be subject to statutory damages of $500 to $1,500 per call.

U.S. District Judge Andrea R. Wood granted preliminary approval of the cruise line telemarketing class action settlement in July 2017. The agreement requires the defendants to create a settlement fund worth between $7 million and $12.5 million, depending on how many claims are filed. This fund will cover payments to qualifying Class Members, an incentive award for Charvat, costs of administering the settlement, and the Class' court costs and attorneys' fees.
Who's Eligible
Class Members eligible to claim benefits include those persons in the U.S. who owned, subscribed to, or used residential or cellular telephone numbers listed in Resort Marketing Group's dialer database, and who received pre-recorded telemarketing calls from Resort Marketing Group that mentioned either Carnival, Norwegian, or Royal Caribbean cruise lines between July 23, 2009 and March 8, 2014.

The settlement agreement specifically limits Class Members to those persons whose phone numbers are listed in Resort Marketing Group's database.
Potential Award
Up to $900 per telephone number.

Class Members who submit valid and timely claims may receive payments for up to three calls per telephone number at $300 per call, for a total maximum payment of $900 per telephone number.

These are the maximum possible payments. Actual payments will be determined in part by the number of claims received.
Proof of Purchase
Claimants must provide either a claim number or a phone number. Claim numbers are being distributed to known Class Members in their individual class notices.

Persons who believe they may be a Class Member but did not receive a claim number may look up their phone number on the settlement administrator's website to confirm whether that phone number is included in the settlement. If the number is included, the Class Member may file a claim for that number.

Class Members may file a claim for each number they believe is included in the settlement.

To check if your phone number is part of the settlement and file a claim online:
https://www.rmgtcpasettlement.com/Landing.aspx