​What is it it with local traffic ticket lawyers and their misadventures at strip clubs? Back in April, Ticket Clinic lawyer Mark S. Gold sued Goldrush strip club, claiming that the establishment got him drunk and made him run up a $18,930 tab. Now, Bret Lusskin, a Ticket Cricket attorney, is suing Tootsie's Cabaret because he claims they lured him in the with the promise of a free Rolex watch, but all he got was annoying text message promotions sent to his phone in return.
On the night of November 25, 2009, Lusskin claims he paid $20 for VIP entrance to Tootsie's Cabaret in Miami Gardens. He was apparently lured there that night with promises of a Rolex giveaway. Tootsie's was running a promotion: give over your cellphone number and be present at the club on that particular night, and you might win the valuable watch. ("Hey, man nice watch? Where'd you get it? Family heirloom?" "Nah, bro, I wont it at a strip club.")
Lusskin didn't win that night, and in the lawsuit describes the giveaway as "a marketing ruse by Defendant in order to obtain MR. LUSSKIN'S and the other participants' cell phone numbers in order that Defendant or its agents could send commercial text messages to Plaintiff and the other participants over and over again."
Lusskin did however get something in return for entering: over 200 text message spams advertising Tootsie's.
Lusskin claims that receiving the messages caused him and other consumers "actual harm," as they're annoying and some phone companies charge you for receiving individual text messages. Lusskin further claims the scheme is illegal because patrons did not know they were signing up for the text messages, and that they violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
So now Lusskin has filed a class-action lawsuit against Tootsie's seeking up to $2,000 in damages for each text message, court costs, and an injunction against Tootsie's owner Rick's Cabaret to stop this form of marketing.
You can read the full lawsuit over at South Florida Lawyers.
Allrighty!!! Now that's a great lawsuit!!
I hope he wins. I never give my cell # out to any kind of promotion. Now I am truly glad I don't. Unless, I go to Tootsies again when they run another promotion like that and I get to join the class action lawsuit.