CHARLESTON – A federal judge in North Carolina has tripled the damages to $61.34 million in a lawsuit against Dish Network alleging Telephone Consumer Protection Act violations.
District Judge Catherine C. Eagles held that Dish willfully violated the TCPA by ignoring Satellite Systems Network’s history of TCPA violations and neglecting to monitor or enforce its compliance with the law even after receiving complaints.
SSN made 51,119 telemarketing calls to numbers on the national Do Not Call Registry on Dish’s behalf in 2010 and 2011.
A jury awarded damages of $400 per call. The judge tripled those damages, calling Dish’s TCPA compliance policy “decidedly two-faced.”
“The Court concludes that treble damages are appropriate here because of the need to deter Dish from future violations and the need to give appropriate weight to the scope of the violations,” Eagles wrote in her memorandum opinion and order, which was filed on May 22.
In her opinion, Eagles wrote that Dish argued that the harm caused was only a “minor nuisance” and “inconvenience,” but failed to mention that it was also illegal.
“Dish’s description left out ‘illegal,’ not to mention ‘infuriating,’” she wrote. “Dish’s argument shows a failure to recognized the purpose of the law and is demeaning to consumers who put their names on the Do Not Call Registry and appreciation for the seriousness of the violations found by the jury: over 50,000 connected calls to over 18,000 private individuals.”
The plaintiffs were represented by Brian Glasser, John Barrett, John Roddy and Ryan Donovan of the Charleston-based law firm Bailey & Glasser. They were also represented by Matthew McCue; Matthew Norris; and Edward A. Broderick and Anthony Paronich of Broderick & Paronich.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina case number: 1:14-cv-00333