United States: Washington Attorney General Sues Minnesota Debt Consolidators for Spam Law Violations

State of Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire has filed suit against two men who operate a Minnesota-based debt consolidation company for violating Washington’s Unsolicited Electronic Mail Act. The lawsuit, filed on July 11, 2002 in King County Superior Court in Seattle, alleges that Samuel and Adam Meltzer of St. Paul, Minnesota, and their companies Chippynet.com and Mobydns.com, sent thousands of unsolicited e-mails to recipients in Washington unlawfully advertising their services.

The Attorney General’s complaint [pdf format] alleges that the Meltzers falsely labeled the e-mails as coming from the "Collections Department" or "Payment Department," and also used deceptive subject lines such as "Urgent," "Check Unclaimed" and "Payment Past Due" to trick consumers to open them. The Attorney General received "about 19 complaints" about the unsolicited e-mails from the Meltzers, and suspects that thousands of Washington residents have received illegal e-mail messages from the pair. She seeks civil penalties of $500 for each deceptive e-mail sent to an individual plus $1,000 for every e-mail handled by an Internet service provider.

This is Gregoire’s third lawsuit brought under the state's 1998 anti-spam law. The first, against an Oregon-based company, was dismissed in March of 2000 after a Washington State trial court struck down the law as violative of the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. That decision was reversed by the Washington State Supreme Court and the Attorney General’s suit was reinstated. It is now slated for trial in September. The second suit, against the owner of an Georgia-based company, settled for $30,000.

Why This Matters: This lawsuit demonstrates that public officials such as Washington’s Attorney General receive complaints when their constituents receive unsolicited e-mail (nineteen complaints in this case), and are willing to initiate litigation in response. It is noteworthy that all three lawsuits brought under Washington’s anti-spam law have been against out-of-state defendants.

This article originally appeared in ADLAW By Request, a publication of Hall Dickler Kent Goldstein & Wood LLP.