August 23, 2002
A class action suit against junk-fax purveyor Fax.com seeks damages of $2.2 trillion. The amount may sound exorbitant but it's based on penalties set down in federal laws.
The suit was filed on behalf of fax machine owners everywhere by California businessman Steve Kirsch, who seeks $500 for each unsolicited fax sent out by Fax.com over the last four years. That's based on a federal statute passed in 1991 that bars unsolicited commercial faxes.
Fax.com claims it sends out 3 million faxes per day. Assuming each is unsolicited, that would indeed bring the total penalty to the figure named in Kirsch's suit.
Kirsch said he took action after receiving more than 100 unwanted faxes at his office and his San Jose home over the last few months.
In the past, Fax.com has argued that junk faxes are legal in California, as long as each fax carries a toll-free number that recipients can call to be excluded from future faxblasts. Junk fax foes tried to have that law overturned in June but failed when Senate committee members abstained from voting after a fierce lobbying campaign organized by Fax.com.
Fax.com was fined $5.4 million a few weeks ago for violating the federal law prohibiting junk faxes.
