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The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, granted Beat Music's motion to send a class-action consumer dispute to arbitration. Craddock v. Beats Music LLC, 14 C 10301. Class plaintiff Megan Craddock had signed up for a one-week, free trial of Beats Music's streaming application on her cell phone. District Judge Joan H. Lefkow explained that Craddock sued after she “received a text message from an unidentified number, reading, 'Beats Music Free Msg. You may qualify for special offers on Beats Music through AT&T. Redeem here ' '” The class action was based on the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act'(TCPA), 47 U.S.C. '227 et seq. . But Beats argued Craddock was subject to its Term of Use, which mandated arbitration. District Judge Lefkow found: “Craddock's downloading of the application gave rise to the text message at issue, and the content of the message itself referred to Beats Music's website, which is included in the definition of 'Service' set forth in the Terms of Use. Craddock's claims must be arbitrated.” The district judge added: “Craddock argues that her claims should not be arbitrated because her registration for the free trial is, at most, a but-for cause of the text message, which is insufficient to invoke the arbitration clause. Controlling authority, however, makes clear that Craddock's claims are sufficiently related to the services offered by Beats Music.”

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