A class action lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (Eastern Division) entitled Van Tassell, et al. v. United Marketing Group, LLC, et al., Case no. 10-cv-02675 (N.D. Ill.) and revolves around claims that the defendants charged class members for a membership program without their consent. Plantiffs claim that United Marketing Group, LLC, Permission Interactive, Inc., Pikes Peak Direct Marketing, Inc. (“Pikes Peak”), and Taylor Gifts, Inc. violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the Electronic Funds Transfer Act, violation of state consumer fraud statutes and claim breach of contract. As usual the defendants deny all wrong doing.
Class members in the UMG Membership class lawsuit include anyone who were charged between March 26, 2006 and November 23, 2011 in any of the following membership programs:
Buyer’s Edge
Dental Protector
ESPN The Magazine Club
Field & Stream Club
Hi-Tech Auto Hotline
Money Ahead Now
TechXperts for Consumer
Travel & Entertainment
Money Ahead
Club Travel Rewards
Budget Travel Rewards
MyAdvisor
OneCall Credit Card Security Plan
Perfect Home
Prescription Savings Plan
Prevention Healthy Rewards
Simply Mine
A settlement fairness hearing is set for March 7, 2012 at 1:30 p.m. CST and will be held at the United States District Court for the District of the Northern District of Illinois (Eastern Division), Everett McKinley Dirksen Building, United States Courthouse, 219 South Dearborn Street, Courtroom 2141, Chicago, IL 60604. It should be noted that class members are not required to attend this hearing. All claim forms must be postmarked by April 6, 2012. The deadline to file and exclusion or objection was February 1, 2012. A class member can download a copy of the claim form online at the class administrators website (see below) or can write to: Van Tassell, et al. v. United Marketing Group, LLC, et al. c/o Kurtzman Carson Consultants LLC, PO Box 6177, Novato, CA 94948-6177. The class is represented by Jay Edelson, Rafey S. Balabanian, Benjamin H. Richman and Edelson McGuire LLC.
