Thousands of Buffalo Bills fans will receive gift cards to purchase official Buffalo Bills merchandise after they received a few too many text alerts from the team’s now-disbanded automatic text service.
Back in 2012, Bills fan Jerry Wojcik filed a class-action lawsuit against the NFL organization, claiming that he received three-too-many texts from the Bills during a two-week period. The former Bills text alert system promised no more than five text alerts per week, and Wojcik claimed to have received 13 over two weeks.
At the time, many labeled the lawsuit frivolous, misguided, and a true “what the hell, dude” moment. But now, a year-and-a-half later, the Bills have settled for roughly $3 million.
The majority of the settlement with go to members of the class, who will receive either $57.50, $65, or $75 gift cards, according to The Buffalo News. Those gift cards can only be redeemed at the official Bills store inside the stadium or online. It may be enough to buy a Stevie Johnson jersey. Probably not.
The Bills will hand out up to $2.5 million in gift cards to members of the class, which could total as many as 39,750 (that’s how many were signed up to the service). No word on how many fans were “bombarded” with three or so extra texts.
“The Buffalo Bills have reached a settlement in this matter which we believe is in the best interest of our organization and our fans. The purpose of the Bills’ voluntary, opt-in text messaging program was to provide our fans with information they requested about the team. The organization maintains that our text messaging program was in compliance with the law,” said a Bills spokesperson.
Wojcik himself will receive $5,000, you know, for being brave enough to sue. The rest of the money (over $500,000) will go to lawyers fees.
Ah, the American civil justice system at work.
This is not the only lawsuit the Buffalo Bills find themselves a part of. A new, and possibly more expensive affair involves former cheerleaders suing over paltry pay and degrading practices such as “jiggle tests”. Yikes.
Image via Wikimedia Commons
