A Clinton, IA-based Internet service provider has reportedly been awarded an $11.2 billion judgment against a Florida man for allegedly sending millions of unsolicited e-mails advertising mortgage and debt consolidation services.
The judgment against James McCalla of Florida is 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 Davenport, IA Quad City Times reported.
The judgment also prohibits McCalla from accessing the Internet for three years.
“I’m pleased with [the] ruling,” Kramer said in a press release. “It’s a victory for every e-mail user and every responsible ISP. It’s proof our courts and Congress are committed to protecting the public."
The lawsuit claimed that McCalla sent more than 280 million illegal spam e-mail messages into CIS’s network, the Quad City Times reported.
Kramer’s lawsuit initially named numerous defendants, many of whom were weeded out and dropped from the lawsuit over the past couple of years, the report said.
Other defendants named in the lawsuit, however, including Cash Link Systems of Florida, AMP Dollar Savings Inc. of Arizona, and TEI Marketing Group Inc. of Florida were ordered in 2004 to pay judgments totaling more than $1 billion to CIS Internet Services.
Kramer claimed that under state law in effect at the time, he was entitled to $10 per illegal e-mail. Kramer also said he likely will not see any of the judgment money.
The lawsuit said the defendants “falsely and illegally” claiemd that their e-mails originated from CIS. Falsifying return address information is illegal.
