Silva v. Connected Investors, Inc.

A court authorized the Notice (and this website) because you have a right to know about a proposed Settlement of a class action lawsuit known as Silva v. Connected Investors, Case No. 7:21-cv-00074-D and about all of your options before the Court decides whether to give Final Approval to the Settlement. The Notice explains the lawsuit, the Settlement, and your legal rights. Judge James C. Dever, III of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina is overseeing this case. The person who sued, Jo Anna Silva, is called the “Plaintiff.” Connected Investors, Inc. is called the “Defendant.”

The lawsuit alleges that Defendant sent marketing prerecorded voice messages to Plaintiff’s telephone number in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) and seeks actual and statutory damages under the TCPA on behalf of the named Plaintiff and a class of all individuals in the United States.

Defendant denies each and every allegation of wrongdoing, liability, and damages that were or could have been asserted in the litigation and that the claims in the litigation would be appropriate for class treatment if the litigation were to proceed through trial.

The Plaintiff’s Complaint, Settlement Agreement, and other case-related documents are posted here. The Settlement resolves the lawsuit. The Court has not decided who is right.

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (commonly referred to as the “TCPA”) is a federal law that restricts telephone solicitations and the use of prerecorded voice message calls.

In a class action, one person called the “Class Representative” (in this case, Plaintiff Jo Anna Silva) sues on behalf of herself and other people with similar claims.

All of the people who have claims similar to the Plaintiffs are Settlement Class Members, except for those who exclude themselves from the class.

The Court has not found in favor of either Plaintiff or Defendant. Instead, both sides have agreed to a settlement. By agreeing to the Settlement, the parties avoid the costs and uncertainty of a trial, and if the Settlement is approved by the Court, Settlement Class Claimants will receive the benefits described in the Notice. Defendant denies all legal claims in this case. Plaintiff and her lawyers think the proposed Settlement is best for everyone who is affected.

The Settlement includes all persons who received a prerecorded voice message on their cell phone from Defendant. Specifically, the Settlement is defined as:

All persons within the United States who were sent one or more prerecorded voice messages between April 28, 2017, and September 26, 2022, regarding Defendant’s goods and/or services.

Persons meeting this definition are referred to collectively as the “Settlement Class” and, individually, as “Settlement Class Members” or a “Settlement Class Member.”

Excluded from the Settlement Class are (1) the trial judge and magistrate judge presiding over this case; (2) Connected Investors as well as any parent, subsidiary, affiliate, or control person of Connected Investors, and the officers, directors, agents, members, managers, servants, or employees of Connected Investors; (3) any of the Released Parties; (4) the immediate family of any such person(s); and (5) Plaintiff’s Counsel, their employees, and their immediate family.

If you are not sure whether you are in the Settlement Class or have any other questions about the Settlement, you may call the toll-free number, 855-568-3609. You also may send questions to the Settlement Administrator at:

Silva v. Connected Investors TCPA Settlement
c/o Settlement Administrator
P.O. Box 4235
Portland, OR 97208-4235

To fully settle and release claims of the Settlement Class Members, Connected Investors has agreed to pay $2,000,000 (the “Settlement Fund”). Class Members who submit a valid Claim Form, Notice and Administration Costs, Service Award and Attorney’s Fees and Costs will all be paid out of the Settlement Fund. Each Settlement Class Member who submits a timely, valid, correct and verified Claim Form by the Claim Deadline in the manner required by the parties’ Settlement Agreement, making all the required affirmations and representations, shall be sent a Claim Settlement Check by the Administrator in the amount of Twenty-Nine Dollars and Ten Cents ($29.10). If the Settlement Fund is substantially depleted by Settlement Class Claimants (i.e. depleted to the extent that it is not possible to pay each Settlement Class Claimant $29.10 and pay Notice and Administration Costs, Attorneys’ Fees and Expenses, and Service Award from the Settlement Fund), then the amount each Settlement Class Claimant receives may be reduced to account for any Notice and Administration Costs, Attorneys’ Fees and Expenses, and Service Award. Any amount remaining in the Settlement Fund will be donated to a Cy Pres Recipient.

If you qualify for a payment, you must complete and submit a valid Claim Form. A Claim Form is available by clicking here. You may also request a Claim Form by calling the Settlement Administrator at 855-568-3609. The Claim Form may be submitted online, by email at info@SilvaConnectedInvestorsTCPASettlement.com, or postal mail to Silva v. Connected Investors TCPA Settlement, c/o Settlement Administrator, P.O. Box 4235, Portland OR, 97208-4235. To be valid, a Claim Form must be completed fully and accurately, signed under penalty of perjury, and submitted in a timely manner.

You may submit a Claim Form by U.S. Mail and it must be postmarked by June 17, 2023. If you file a Claim Form online, then you must file it by 11:59 p.m. ET on June 17, 2023.

Please read the Claim Form carefully and provide all the information required. Only one Claim Form may be submitted per Settlement Class Member.

Payments to Settlement Class Members will be made only after the Court grants Final Approval to the Settlement and after any appeals are resolved. If there are appeals, resolving them can take time. Please be patient.

If you do not want benefits from the Settlement, and you want to keep the right to sue or continue to sue Defendant on your own about the legal issues in this case, then you must take steps to get out of the Settlement. This is called excluding yourself—or it is sometimes referred to as “opting out” of the Settlement Class.

To exclude yourself from the Settlement, you must send a timely letter by mail to:

Silva v. Connected Investors TCPA Settlement
c/o Settlement Administrator
P.O. Box 4235
Portland, OR 97208-4235

Your request to be excluded from the Settlement must be personally signed by you under penalty of perjury and contain a statement that indicates your desire to be “excluded from the Settlement Class” and that, absent of excluding yourself or “opting out,” you are “otherwise a member of the Settlement Class.”

Your exclusion request must be postmarked no later than May 3, 2023. You cannot ask to be excluded on the phone, by email, or at the Settlement Website.

You may opt out of the Settlement Class only for yourself.

No. Unless you exclude yourself, you give up the right to sue Defendant for the claims that the Settlement resolves. You must exclude yourself from this Settlement Class in order to pursue your own lawsuit.

Unless you opt out of the Settlement, you cannot sue or be part of any other lawsuit against Defendant about the issues in this case, including any existing litigation, arbitration, or proceeding. Unless you exclude yourself, all of the decisions and judgments by the Court will bind you.

The Settlement Agreement is available here. The Settlement Agreement provides more detail regarding the Releases and describes the Released Claims with specific descriptions in necessary, accurate legal terminology, so read it carefully. You can talk to the law firms representing the Settlement Class listed in FAQ 15 for free, or you can, at your own expense, talk to your own lawyer if you have any questions about the Released Claims or what they mean.

No. You will not get a payment from the Settlement Fund if you exclude yourself from the Settlement.

The Court has appointed the following lawyers as “Class Counsel” to represent all members of the Settlement Class:

You will not be charged for these lawyers. If you want to be represented by another lawyer, you may hire one to appear in Court for you at your own expense.

Class Counsel intends to request up to 33.3% of the Settlement for attorneys’ fees plus reimbursement of reasonable, actual out-of-pocket expenses incurred in the litigation. The fees and expenses awarded by the Court will be paid out of the Settlement Fund. The Court will decide the amount of fees and expenses to award.

Class Counsel will also request that a Service Award of $6,000.00 be paid from the Settlement Fund to the Class Representative for her service as representative on behalf of the whole Settlement Class.

If you are a Settlement Class Member (and do not exclude yourself from the Settlement Class), you can object to any part of the Settlement. To object, you must timely submit a letter that includes the following:

1. A heading that includes the case name and case number—Silva v. Connected Investors Inc., Case No. 7:21-cv-00074-D (E.D.N.C.);
2. Your name, address, telephone number, the cell phone number at which you received prerecorded message from Defendant and if represented by counsel, the name, bar number, address, and telephone number of your counsel;
3. A signed statement stating, under penalty of perjury, that you received one or more prerecorded voice messages from Defendant and are a member of the Settlement Class;
4. A statement of all your objections to the Settlement including your legal and factual basis for each objection;
5. A statement of whether you intend to appear at the Final Approval Hearing, either with or without counsel, and if with counsel, the name of your counsel who will attend;
6. The number of times in which your counsel and/or counsel’s law firm have objected to a class action settlement within the five years preceding the date that you file the objection, the caption of each case in which counsel or the firm has made such objection, and a copy of any orders related to or ruling upon counsel’s or the firm’s prior objections that were issued by the trial and appellate courts in each listed case;
7. A list of all persons who will be called to testify at the Final Approval Hearing in support of the objection; and
8. Any and all agreements that relate to the objection or the process of objecting—whether written or verbal—between you or your counsel and any other person or entity.

If you wish to object, you must file your objection with the Court (using the Court’s electronic filing system or in any manner in which the Court accepts filings) and mail your objection to each of the following three (3) addresses, and your objection must be postmarked by May 3, 2023.

Objecting is telling the Court that you do not like something about the Settlement. You can object to the Settlement only if you do not exclude yourself.

Excluding yourself is telling the Court that you do not want to be part of the Settlement. If you exclude yourself, you have no basis to object to the Settlement because it no longer affects you.

The Court will hold a hearing to decide whether to approve the Settlement and any requests for fees and expenses (“Final Approval Hearing”). The Court has scheduled a Final Approval Hearing on June 2, 2023, at 9:00 a.m. ET via Zoom or other teleconference equipment. The hearing may be moved to a different date or time without additional notice, so it is a good idea to check this website for updates. At this hearing, the Court will consider whether the Settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate. The Court will also consider the requests by Class Counsel for attorneys’ fees and expenses and for a Service Award to the Class Representative. If there are objections, the Court will consider them at that time. After the hearing, the Court will decide whether to approve the Settlement. It is unknown how long these decisions will take.

No. Class Counsel will answer any questions the Court may have. But you are welcome to attend the hearing at your own expense. If you send an objection, you do not have to come to Court to talk about it. As long as you submit your written objection on time to the proper addresses and it complies with all the other requirements set forth above, the Court will consider it. You may also pay your own lawyer to attend the hearing, but it is not necessary.

You may ask the Court for permission to speak at the Final Approval Hearing. To do so, your timely filed objection must include a statement of whether you intend to appear at the Final Approval Hearing (see FAQ 17 above).

You cannot speak at the hearing if you exclude yourself from the Settlement.

If you are a Settlement Class member and do nothing, meaning you do not file a timely Claim, you will not get benefits from the Settlement. Further, unless you exclude yourself, you will be bound by the judgment entered by the Court.

The Notice and this website summarize the proposed Settlement. You are urged to review more details in the Settlement Agreement. For a complete, definitive statement of the Settlement terms, refer to the Settlement Agreement located on the Important Documents page of this website here. You also may call the toll-free number at 855-568-3609 or write with questions to the Settlement Administrator at:

Silva v. Connected Investors TCPA Settlement
c/o Settlement Administrator
P.O. Box 4235
Portland, OR 97208-4235