Court Dismisses Robo-Call Litigation as to Domino’s Pizza

A federal court in Washington has dismissed franchisor Domino’s Pizza from litigation alleging that a franchisee’s use of automatic calls with a prerecorded message to numbers stored from previous orders violated state and federal laws prohibiting “robo-calls.” Anderson v. Domino’s Pizza, Inc., No. 11-902 (W.D. Wash., decided May 15, 2012). While the claims against the franchisee and the telemarketing company that placed the calls remains intact, the court refused to certify a class because the plaintiff’s motion was untimely, the statutory damages alone would be significant, and the “burden of any award [which would be grossly disproportionate given the actual damages] would fall on a small business.”

According to the court, Domino’s requires franchisees to use a phone system
that can store customer numbers and introduced its franchisees to the
telemarketer during a national convention in 2009. Domino’s also requires
its franchisees to participate in advertising and promotions campaigns. Still,
the court found this insufficient to “compel the conclusion that Domino’s
was complicit in the allegedly illegal calling here.” And, while Domino’s likely
benefited from the calls, allowing this as a basis for liability “would dramatically
expand the scope of [the Washington statute governing ‘automatic
dialing and announcing devices’], a task this court is unwilling to perform.”