Dish Ordered to Pay Record $280 Million for Unwanted Robocalls

Dish Ordered to Pay Record $280 Million for Unwanted Robocalls

A few years ago, we noted how the FTC had found Dish Networks guilty of violating the federal Do Not Call registry repeatedly. According to the original FTC notice, Dish ignored consumer opt out preferences around 55 million times via an auto-mated robo call system. Initially, it looked like Dish would be looking at $24 million in fines from the DOJ and four states for the violations, after shelling out $5.99 million to 46 states for the offense back in 2009.

Now, a Judge has declared that Dish will have to pay-- as in $280 million.

US District Judge Sue Myerscough this week ordered Dish Network Corp to pay $280 million to settle the eight-year legal battle over Dish's behavior. In what's believed to be the largest robocall-related settlement of its kind, the Judge ordered Dish to pay $168 million to the US government and $112 million to North Carolina, California, Ohio and Illinois for what the judge declared were "millions and millions" of unwanted calls.

Myerscough said the settlement represents just one-fifth of Dish's 2016 after-tax profits. The Judge further declared that the settlement was "not onerous" and rejected "pleas of poverty and lack of cash" made by Dish attorneys.

In a statement, Dish said the company "respectfully disagrees with today’s decision by the Court," and promised to appeal the ruling. The company added that the $280 million settlement "radically and unjustly exceed, by orders of magnitude, those found in the settlements in similar actions."

Dish went on to add that "the court is holding Dish responsible for telemarketing activities conducted by independent third-parties, including in circumstances where such third-parties intentionally hid their telemarketing efforts from Dish."

In this instance the wheels of justice moved rather slow. The offenses occurred between 2006-2008, and it wasn't until 2015 that the FTC and states of Illinois, California, North Carolina and Ohio accused Dish of violating the Telemarketing Sales Rule and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.