Earlier this month the 9th Circuit upheld the district court’s grant of summary judgment in the case of Shaya Baird v. Sabre, Inc., et al. The case concerned an unsolicited text message that was sent to the plaintiff’s cell phone.  However, the court found that the plaintiff had provided “prior express consent” to the defendant by releasing her phone number to Hawaiian airlines while making a reservation.

This ruling reaffirms the position that if you knowingly release your phone number to a business, without providing any instructions to the contrary, you have provided “prior express consent” to be contacted at that number.  Note of course that this is not the same level of “prior express written consent” needed for marketing texts and calls.