No Tax 4 Nash group reaches $1M settlement in class action lawsuit

An anti-tax group that targeted Nashville Mayor John Cooper and Metro Council members for recall will pay more than $1 million as part of a legal settlement after it used pre-recorded robocalls to contact Nashville voters in July 2020.

Metro Nashville School Board member Rachael Anne Elrod, attorney Andrew Kaufman and Sarah Martin filed the complaint against No Tax 4 Nashville, Michelle Foreman, a Republican candidate for Tennessee House District 59, Karen Moore and 10 John Does two years ago in the midst of a quarrel over a property tax increase. Additionally, Brooks Brasfield filed a complaint against the group.

Under the settlement approved by U.S. District Court Judge Eli Richardson, the defendants and third parties, Best Sellers, LLC, Heather Sellers, Joe Gergley and Hypermetrics agreed to pay $1,010,050 into a settlement fund, according to the court filing. The fund will provide about $200 to each Nashville voter who received a robocall during an effort to oust Cooper and council members from office when the council approved a property tax increase that year.

Plaintiffs in the case contended the defendants violated the Telephone Consumer Protections Act by making auto-dialed and/or prerecorded calls to the cellular telephones of registered Metro Nashville voters.

As part of the settlement, the defendants did not admit wrongdoing.