Newsmax engages in unsolicited text messaging to promote its goods and services, and continues to text-message consumers even after they opt out of those solicitations, alleged plaintiff April Roughton’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act putative class action Tuesday (docket 9:23-cv-80969) in U.S. District Court for Southern Florida in West Palm Beach. Roughton seeks injunctive relief to halt the right-leaning media company’s “illegal conduct,” plus statutory damages and “any other available legal or equitable remedies,” said her complaint.

The personal information of over 181,000 individuals was compromised in a hacking incident due to data security failures at Great Valley Cardiology, alleged a class action (docket 3:23-cv-01050) Friday in U.S. District Court for Middle Pennsylvania in Scranton.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) joined 25 state AGs supporting the FTC’s proposed improvements to its Negative Option Rule that’s designed to simplify consumers' process when canceling unwanted subscriptions.

Plaintiff Antonio Lewis’ opposition to Samsung's motion to compel his fraud claims to arbitration “concedes the relevant facts and law applicable to contract formation,” said Samsung’s reply Tuesday (docket 1:22-cv-10882) in support of the motion. Lewis’ putative class action alleges Samsung duped consumers into believing its Galaxy Z Fold3 foldable smartphone is more durable than it really is (see 2305020029).

Publishers Clearing House (PCH) agreed to a proposed court order requiring it to pay $18.5 million to consumers who “spent money and wasted their time” on the company’s sweepstakes, said an FTC news release that was embargoed prior to release of the Monday complaint (docket 2:23-cv-04735) in U.S. District Court for Eastern New York in Central Islip. The proposed order also requires the company to overhaul the sweepstakes entry and sales processes and to stop “surprise fees."

The negligence of healthcare company NationsBenefits enabled hackers associated with the Clop ransomware group to gain access to the personally identifiable information (PII) of more than 3 million customers in a data breach the company kept hidden from account holders for two months, alleged plaintiff Robert Lizotte in a class action Monday (docket 0:23-cv-61209) in U.S. District Court for Southern Florida in Fort Lauderdale.

Defendant Chive Media Group seeks to dismiss plaintiff Gregory Roland’s Video Privacy Protection Act complaint for failure to state a claim, or in the alternative to strike Roland’s class allegations, said its combined motions Monday (docket 1:23-cv-00389) in U.S. District Court for Western Texas in Austin.

Buena Vista Medical Services solicited Florida physician Marc Sharfman and at least 40 other recipients by fax machine “without compliant opt-out language,” alleged a Monday privacy class action (docket 6:23-cv-01176) in U.S. District Court for Middle Florida in Orlando.

Here are Communications Litigation Today's top stories from last week, in case you missed them. Each can be found by searching on its title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

Hospitals and networks in multistate health services company Tenet Healthcare “disregarded the privacy rights of millions of visitors to and users of their websites,” alleges a Friday class action (2:23-cv-05021) in U.S. District Court for Central California in Los Angeles.