Last month a federal court found Dish Network liable for calls that were alleged by the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) to violate various provisions of the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule (“TSR”).  Specifically, the FTC’s 2009 complaint asserted that Dish Network initiated, or caused a telemarketer to initiate, calls to numbers on the National Do Not Call (“DNC”) Registry and to consumers who previously declined to receive such calls whose numbers were on Dish Network’s entity-specific do-not-call list or were marked “DNC” by a telemarketing vendor.  The FTC also alleged that, in violation of the “abandoned-call” provision of the TSR, Dish Network abandoned or caused telemarketers to abandon phone calls.  In its complaint, the FTC seeks monetary civil penalties from Dish Network for every violation of the TSR, for which the court is entitled to award up to $16,000 for each violation.  At issue are tens of millions of calls, making the potential level of damages to be awarded at the trial stage staggering.
Continue Reading Court Finds FTC Entitled to Partial Summary Judgment Against Dish Network for Telemarketing Violations