Getting junk mail over your fax? You can sue!
February 16, 2010 by Steve HannafordPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Regulations & Compliance
Fax may be dying out, but many companies still need them to conduct business, especially with less tech-savvy clients. But these days, you are as likely to get junk faxes as real communications.
Yes, there are junk fax filters, but even the best of them can be gotten around.
A Michigan company, according to the Detroit News, has decided to do more than filter. Imhoff Investment LLC has filed a federal lawsuit against Texas-based Stephen Bean & Associated and Aftermlifequote.com for sending unsolicited junk faxes. The fax in question was entitled “Affordable life insurance.”
The suit references two federal laws: the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 2001 and the Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005. It is illegal, by these acts, to send faxes to a party unless you already have underlying business relationship with them.
The lawsuit brief states that “Unsolicited faxes prevent fax machines from receiving authorized faxes, prevent their use for authorized outgoing faxes, cause undue wear and tear on the recipient fax machines, and require additional labor to attempt to discern the source and purpose of the unsolicited message.” It couldn’t be stated better.
The cost per violation: $400 per page received, and the judge can award triple damages if the sender is seen to be willfully violating the law. This is a case worth watching.
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