Lawyer Wins $7K in Spam Lawsuit

A lawyer in San Francisco won his lawsuit against a spammer and was awarded $7,000.  Daniel Balsam sued under California’s anti-spam law and was awarded $1,000 for every spam message he received from Trancos Inc., a Redwood City based advertising firm. The from lines in the messages were invalid and contained phrases like “Your Promotion” and “Paid Survey” instead of an email address. The messages claimed the recipient would be paid $5 to take a survey, a claim the judge ruled as misleading. The judge also ruled that the messages violated California’s anti-spam law, which was enacted in 2004. The law bars companies from sending unsolicited email from California or to a California resident that has a faked or misleading subject or sender. The law allows individuals to sue and claim $1000 in damages for each spam message they receive.

While Trancos’ lawyer said the company was an ethical business and would file an appeal, the judge in the case, Judge Marie Weiner of San Mateo County Superior Court said:

Trancos had deliberately sought to “impair a recipient’s ability to identify, locate or respond to it as the initiator of the e-mail” and is liable for damages.

Trancos argued that the law only allows individuals that suffer damages as a result of spam to sue and that Balsam has suffered none. The judge rejected that argument. According to the San Francisco Chronicle this is not the first time Daniel Balsam has sued a spammer-he’s been doing so since before he graduated from law school in 2008.