A Clinton, IA-based Internet service provider last week was awarded an $11.2 billion judgment against a Florida man for allegedly sending millions of unsolicited e-mails advertising mortgage and debt consolidation services.
It is by far the largest judgment ever in a lawsuit over unsolicited e-mail, and one that will no doubt go unpaid.
The judgment against James McCalla of Florida was the culmination of a multi-defendant lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa in 2003 by Robert W. Kramer III, owner of CIS Internet Services in Clinton.
The judgment also prohibits McCalla from accessing the Internet for three years.
One observer put the judgment nicely into perspective:
“Assuming the bounty’s collectible, CIS Internet Services will be well positioned to pay cash for every single house in Clinton county (12,254), and still have enough left over to cover the paychecks for every resident [for] 10 years, shelling out a little less than a billion a year,” says copy on Trimmail.com, a site that sells an e-mail security device of the same name. “Robert Krammer could be Sugar Daddy for 50,000 American citizens... or not. Back on this planet, we’re betting he'll go in the hole paying his legal bills.”
Amen.
