What is the Notice about?

The purpose of the notice is to advise Class Members of Johnson v. Yahoo! Inc. that, by order of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, this former class action is decertified. The Court determined that this action can no longer proceed as a class action. Individuals who were previously members of the Class and who wish to pursue their claims against Yahoo must now bring their claims in individual lawsuits.

Who is included?

The notice applies to all members of the former Class, defined as:

"All persons within the United States to whose cellular telephone number Yahoo! sent the “Welcome” text message during the period commencing March 1, 2013 through March 31, 2013, while such cellular number was assigned to Sprint, and whose cellular telephone number is not associated with a Yahoo! user in Yahoo!’s records.”

The “Welcome” message stated:  “A Yahoo! user has sent you a message. Reply to that SMS to respond. Reply INFO to this SMS for help or go to y.ahoo.it/imsms.”

Special Instructions for Sprint Account Holders: If you were a Cellular Telephone Account Holder in March 2013, you were only a class member if you were the user of the number to which Yahoo sent the “Welcome” text message. As the account holder, you may have been the user, or the user may have been on your cellular telephone plan. If you were not the user, please promptly send a copy of the notice you received to the user.

Your legal rights are affected by applicable statutes of limitations, which require that lawsuits be brought within a specified time. The applicable statutes of limitations for former class members’ claims were suspended during the pendency of the class action, but with the decertification, they have started to run again. If you wish to file an individual lawsuit, it is essential that you act promptly because your claims may be barred by the statutes of limitations.