Dish Network Settlement Resolves Claims of Do-Not-Call List Violations for $210M

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has announced that a decade-long lawsuit against Dish Network has been resolved with a multi-million dollar Dish Network settlement.

What is the Dish Network Settlement?

In 2009, the federal government along with California, North Carolina, Ohio, and Illinois filed a TCPA lawsuit against Colorado-based Dish Network over its telemarketing activities. The plaintiffs alleged that Dish Network routinely violated consumer protection laws by making unsolicited telemarketing calls to consumers who had registered their numbers with the National Do-Not-Call Registry. Over a period of eight years, Dish made at least 65 million illegal calls to U.S. consumers, according to the lawsuit.

In 2017, a district court found that Dish had in fact violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which governs the ways companies may contact consumers with advertising or solicitation messages. The court awarded the plaintiffs $280 million, which included compensation for TCPA violations, as well as several million dollars in penalties against Dish. Additionally, the court required Dish to refrain from committing similar violations in the future and to prove that its telemarketing policies would be brought into compliance with federal and state laws.

Dish appealed the decision, and although the judgment was upheld, the damages and penalties were recalculated. The recalculated Dish Network settlement, announced in early December, is $210 million. According to The Wall Street Journal, the settlement is the largest civil penalty for telemarketing violations, though many other companies have been hit with lawsuits alleging TCPA violations for contacting consumers without their express consent.

About the TCPA and the Do-Not-Call List

For nearly three decades, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act has protected consumers from being harassed by unwanted solicitation calls. In addition to prohibiting most businesses from contacting consumers with advertising phone calls, the law also prohibits businesses from sending unwanted text messages, unsolicited text coupons, or other text advertisements. The TCPA requires that companies have written, express consent in order to contact most consumers, and generally does not allow the use of automatic telephone dialing systems. This technology is often used by companies to send pre-written or pre-recorded messages to hundreds of consumers at once without human intervention. Under the TCPA, these messages are illegal. Additionally, the TCPA requires companies to abide by the National Do-Not-Call Registry and refrain from contacting consumers who have registered their phone numbers with the list. It is free to register a phone number and most companies are required to refrain from contacting a consumer once the number is placed on the list.

The TCPA also protects consumers who have given consent to be contacted by setting limits on how companies may contact them and at what times of the day. Companies that violate the TCPA may be subject to fines and penalties. Consumers who have been harassed by companies committing TCPA violations may be able to pursue compensation of between $500 and $1,500 for each offending call or text.

If you have received unwanted text messages or solicitation calls from Dish Network or another company despite your number being registered with the Do-Not-Call List, or after withdrawing consent to be contacted, you may be able to speak with an experienced attorney about your legal options. Some victims of TCPA violations may be eligible to file a class action lawsuit against the company committing the violations and pursue compensation.