1. Why did I receive a notice?
2. What is a class action?
3. Why is there a settlement?
4. Am I a member of the Settlement Class?
5. What does the Settlement provide?
6. How can I receive a payment?
7. When will I receive my payment?
8. What am I giving up to remain in the Settlement?
9. How do I exclude myself from the Settlement?
10. Do I have a lawyer in this lawsuit?
11. How do I tell the Court I do not like the Settlement?
12. When and where will the Court decide whether to approve the Settlement?
13. Do I have to attend the Hearing?
14. What happens if I do nothing?
15. How can I get more information?
The purpose of the Notice is to let you know that a proposed settlement has been reached in the Ahmad v. Fathom Realty FL LLC et al. class action lawsuit. You have legal rights and options that you may act on before the Court decides whether to approve the proposed settlement. Because your legal rights will be affected by this Settlement, it is extremely important that you read this website and the Notice carefully. The Notice summarizes the settlement and your legal rights under it.
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In a class action, one or more people, called class representatives, sue on behalf of people who have similar claims. All of these people are a class, or class members. One Court resolves the issues for all Class Members, except those who exclude themselves from the class. Here, the class representative alleges that Fathom violated the TCPA by sending text messages to Class members whose telephone numbers had been listed on the National Co Not Call Registry for at least 30 days at the time the messages were sent from August 15, 2021, through December 15, 2024, via Fathom’s former real estate agent Marcus Edwards. The Court has certified one class for settlement purposes only (the “Settlement Class”). The Honorable Migna Sanchez-Llorens of the Circuit Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit in and for Miami-Dade County, Florida (the “Court”) oversees this class action. Fathom denies that it did anything wrong and denies that this lawsuit should be certified as a class action in litigation. The Court has not decided who is correct.
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The Court did not decide in favor of Plaintiff or Fathom on Fathom’s liability under the TCPA. Instead, both sides agreed to a settlement of the legal claims in the complaint to avoid the cost of a trial, the risk and uncertainty of proceeding forward in the lawsuit, and to provide compensation for Settlement Class Members. The class representative and Class Counsel believe that the settlement is in the best interests of the Settlement Class.
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You are in the “Settlement Class” if you are listed in records produced in this action as having received more than one text message from former Fathom real estate agent, Marcus Edwards within a 12-month period between August 15, 2021, through December 15, 2024 after you had registered your telephone number on the National Do Not Call Registry for 30 or more days. If you received notice regarding this Settlement via email or postcard it is because your number was listed as having been texted by Marcus Edwards on at least two occasions between August 15, 2021, and December 15, 2024, and therefore you may be a member of the Settlement Class. If you have questions about whether you are in the Settlement Class, you may call (833) 417-4950.
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Fathom agrees to make available up to $2,847,456.00 to pay Settlement Class Members who submit a valid Claim Form, after any attorneys’ fees, costs, and expenses awarded to Class Counsel, and a service award to the class representative, have been deducted. Settlement Class Members who submit a timely claim will receive up to $48.00 per text message. If the amount of the Settlement Fund is insufficient to pay up to $48.00 per message to each Settlement Class Member who files a valid Claim Form, payments will be reduced and paid on a pro rata (a legal term meaning equal share) basis. In other words, your payment could decrease depending on the number of valid Claim Forms Settlement Class Members submit and the amount of the Settlement Fund available to pay claims.
If, after all payments are processed, any money remains in the Settlement Fund, then the Settlement Administrator will return the remaining money in the Settlement Fund to Fathom.
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To qualify for payment, you must submit a valid Claim Form by January 7, 2026. There are multiple ways to submit a Claim Form. You may submit a Claim Form online here. A paper Claim Form is also available for download here or upon request by calling the Settlement Administration at (833) 417-4950. Read the instructions on the Claim Form carefully, fill out the form, sign it, and submit it online or mail it so that it is submitted or postmarked no later than January 7, 2026.
Claim forms will be rejected if they are not: (a) submitted timely and in accordance with the directions on the claim form, (b) fully and truthfully completed by a Settlement Class Member with all of the information requested in the Claim Form, and (c) signed by the Settlement Class Member under penalty of perjury.
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The Court will hold a hearing on February 6, 2026, to decide whether to approve the settlement. If the settlement is approved, appeals may still follow. It is always uncertain whether these appeals can be resolved, and resolving them can take more than a year. No payments will be made until the Court approves the settlement at the hearing and all appeals are final. Please be patient.
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Unless you exclude yourself, you are staying in the Settlement Class, and you will remain a Settlement Class Member. That means you cannot sue, continue to sue, or be part of any other lawsuit against Fathom regarding any text messages received from Fathom during the Class Period, including, but not limited to, claims asserted in the lawsuit or arising out of the facts and circumstances asserted in the lawsuit. If the Settlement is approved and becomes final and not subject to appeal, then you and all Settlement Class Members release all “Released Claims” against all “Released Parties.” It also means that all of the Court’s orders will apply to you and legally bind you.
The Settlement Agreement (available here) describes the legal claims you are releasing (the “Released Claims”) and against whom you are releasing legal claims (“Released Parties”) in detail, so read it carefully. To summarize, the release includes, but is not limited to, TCPA and claims arising out of or related to any text messages received from Fathom during the Class Period.
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If you do not want a payment from this settlement, but you want to keep the right to sue or continue to sue Fathom, then you must take steps to remove yourself from the Settlement Class. This is called excluding yourself—or is sometimes referred to as “opting out” of the Settlement Class. To exclude yourself from the Settlement, you must send a letter saying that you want to be excluded from the Bilal Ahmad v. Fathom Realty FL LLC d/b/a Fathom Realty and Fathom Realty Holdings, LLC , Case Number 2025-013426-CA-01 Settlement. You must sign the letter and include a statement that you wish to be excluded from this action. Please be sure to include your name, address and telephone number and signature. You must mail your exclusion request postmarked no later than January 7, 2026, to the following address:
You cannot exclude yourself on the phone or by fax or email. If you ask to be excluded, you will not get any payment, and you cannot object to the settlement. You will not be legally bound by anything that happens in this lawsuit. Mass requests for exclusion are not allowed.
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The Court has appointed Andrew Shamis and Christpher Berman of Shamis & Gentile, P.A. and Scott Edelsberg of Edelsberg Law, P.A. to represent you and other Settlement Class Members. These lawyers are called Class Counsel. You will not be personally charged by these lawyers. If you want to be represented by your own lawyer, you may hire one at your own expense. Class Counsel will ask the Court to approve payment of 30% of the settlement fund not to exceed $854,236.80. This payment will compensate Class Counsel for investigating the facts, litigating the lawsuit, and negotiating the settlement. Class Counsel also will request a service award of up to $10,000.00 for the named Plaintiff to compensate for the time and effort in pursuing this lawsuit on behalf of the Settlement Class. The Court may award less than these amounts.
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If you are a Settlement Class Member and you do not exclude yourself from the Settlement Class, you can object to the Settlement if you do not like any part of it. You may give reasons why you think the Court should not approve it. The Court will consider your views. To object, you must send a letter saying that you object to Bilal Ahmad v. Fathom Realty FL LLC d/b/a Fathom Realty and Fathom Realty Holdings, LLC, Case Number 2025-013426-CA-01 Settlement. You must make your objection in writing and file it with the Court. The written objection must (a) contain information sufficient to allow the parties to confirm that you are a member of the Settlement Class, including:
Your full name, address, telephone number, and personal signature;
A statement of your specific objections, and a detailed statement of the factual and legal basis for such objections;
The identity of all witnesses, including the witness’s name and address, and a summary of such witness’s proposed testimony and documents that you would like the Court to consider;
The name and contact information of any attorney you intend to have assert your objections before the Court; and
A statement whether you and your attorney(s) intend to appear at the Final Approval Hearing. If your attorney intends to appear at the Final Approval Hearing they must enter a written Notice of Appearance of Counsel with the Clerk of the Court no later than the date set by the Court in its Preliminary Approval Order and include the full caption and case number of each previous class action case in which such counsel has represented an objector. If you are represented by counsel and your counsel intends to speak at the Final Approval Hearing, the written objection must include a detailed statement of the specific legal and factual basis for each and every objection and a detailed description of any and all evidence you may offer at the Final Approval Hearing, including copies of any and all exhibits that you may introduce at the Final Approval Hearing.
Also, you must send your objection to the Settlement Administrator, Class Counsel, and Counsel for Fathom postmarked no later than January 7, 2026:
Settlement Administrator | Class Counsel | Counsel for Fathom |
Fathom TCPA Settlement P.O. Box 25226 Santa Ana, CA 92799 | Andrew Shamis Shamis & Gentile P.A. 14 NE 1st Ave., Suite 705 Miami, FL 33132 | Darci F. Madden Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP 211 N. Broadway, Suite 3600 St. Louis, MO 63102 |
Objecting simply means telling the Court that you do not like something about the settlement. You can object only if you stay in the Settlement Class. Excluding yourself from the Settlement Class is telling the Court that you do not want to be part of the Settlement Class. If you exclude yourself, you have no basis to object because the lawsuit no longer affects you.
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The Court will hold the Final Approval Hearing at 4:00 p.m. on February 6, 2026, before Honorable Migna Sanchez-Llorens of the Circuit Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit in and for Miami-Dade County, Florida at 73 West Flagler Street, Miami FL 33130. The purpose of the hearing is for the Court to determine whether the settlement is fair, reasonable, adequate, and in the best interests of the Settlement Class. At the hearing, the Court will hear any objections and arguments concerning the fairness of the proposed settlement, including those related to the amount requested by Class Counsel for attorneys’ fees, costs, and expenses, and the service award to the class representative. After the hearing, the Court will decide whether to approve the settlement. It is unknown how long these decisions will take.
Note: The date and time of the Final Approval Hearing is subject to change by Court Order. Any changes will be posted on this website.
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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 attend the hearing to talk about it. As long as your written objection was filed by the deadline, and meets the other criteria described in Question 11 above and in the Settlement Agreement, the Court will consider it. You may also pay a lawyer to attend, but you do not have to. If you do not exclude yourself from the Settlement Class, you may ask the Court for permission to speak at the hearing concerning any part of the proposed Settlement Agreement. If you filed an objection and intend to appear at the hearing or to have a lawyer other than Class Counsel appear for you at that hearing, you must state your intention to do so in your objection. To speak or to have a lawyer other than Class Counsel speak on your behalf, you must state that in your objection. Be sure to include your name, address, telephone number, that you are a Class Member, and your signature. You cannot speak at the hearing if you exclude yourself.
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If you do nothing, you will get no money from this settlement. Unless you exclude yourself, you will not be able to start a lawsuit, continue with a lawsuit, or be part of any other lawsuit against Fathom about the legal issues released in this lawsuit.
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This website and The Notice summarize the proposed Settlement. More details are in the Settlement Agreement, which can be found, along with other case-related documents on the Important Documents page. You can also get a copy of the Settlement Agreement by writing to Class Counsel. You can contact the Settlement Administrator by calling (833) 417-4950 toll free, or writing to Fathom TCPA Settlement, P.O. Box 25226, Santa Ana, CA 92799 about the Settlement or getting a Claim Form, plus, other information to help you determine whether you are a member of the Settlement Class.
Please do not contact the Court, the Judge, or Fathom with questions about the Settlement or Claims process.
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