Verizon Wireless has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, seeking an injunction against Passport Holidays of Ormond Beach, FL for violating federal and state laws by sending tens of thousands of unsolicited text messages to Verizon Wireless customers.

Verizon Wireless filed the suit in federal court in Trenton after more than 98,000 unsolicited short text messages were sent last month to Verizon Wireless customers on behalf of Passport Holidays, informing customers they supposedly had won a cruise to the Bahamas and asking them to call to claim their prize. Passport Holidays and other currently unknown individuals who are alleged to have assisted in sending out the spam are named as defendants in the suit.

The lawsuit alleges that Passport Holidays and others violated the Federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act by using "auto-dialing" equipment to send large bursts of text messages to sequential phone numbers within very short periods of time. Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that the defendants used deceptive means to hide the identity of the party sending the spam messages and to avoid filters that Verizon Wireless employs to prevent spam from reaching its customers.