A Los Angeles-based fashion retailer well-acquainted with courtroom proceedings might soon have another legal battle on its stylish hands.

Nastygal.com USA Inc. was named as the defendant in a putative class action lawsuit in the Southern District of Florida, the latest in a slew of civil actions. In June 2015, it was named in several wrongful termination and discrimination suits for its alleged mistreatment of pregnant employees. The cases all appear to have been settled out of court, or dismissed following arbitration. Soon after those suits the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and was purchased by boohoo group plc for $20 million in February 2017.

Nasty Gal's founder and former CEO Sophia Amoruso served as the inspiration for Netflix's single-season show “Girlboss.”

The women's clothing retailer, which lists its headquarters at the same Delaware address as several Fortune 500 businesses and prominent American figures but operates from Manchester, United Kingdom, and Los Angeles, was accused in the suit of violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. It purportedly broke federal law by sending unsolicited communications to plaintiff Amanda Defranks and thousands of others.

According to the complaint, Defranks, a Miami-Dade resident, received two telemarketing text messages advertising a sale on Nasty Gal's website in May. The texts purportedly came from what the suit calls a “short code,” a five-digit number used to send mass quantities of SMS messages all at once.

“Defendant's text messages constitute telemarketing because they encouraged the future purchase or investment in property, goods or services, i.e., selling plaintiff clothes and accessories,” the suit said. The complaint also cited “the impersonal and generic nature” of the messages to bolster its argument that Nasty Gal had used an automatic telephone dialing system to contact the plaintiff and others.

Defranks' complaint contended she never gave Nasty Gal permission to reach her through an automated system. The lawsuit lists the plaintiff's actual harm to include “invasion of her privacy, aggravation, annoyance, intrusion on seclusion, trespass and conversion.”

Read the class action suit:

Neither Nasty Gal nor boohoo group immediately returned requests for comment.

The lawsuit lists separate charges against Nasty Gal, which purport the company violated the TCPA and did so willingly. The proposed class outlined in the suit includes anyone who was contacted with a text message encouraging them to purchase Nasty Gal products within the four years preceding the suit's filing.

Defranks is being represented by Andrew Shamis and Garrett Berg of Miami law firm Shamis & Gentile, as well as Aventura attorney Scott Edelsberg. Shamis, who serves as managing partner of his firm, declined to comment on the suit.

Related stories: