In-house lawyers should be paying attention, especially to contracted businesses, after a federal court in Illinois levied a record fine against Dish Network for illegally making telemarketing calls.
A federal judge this week ordered Dish to pay more than $200 million for violating telemarketing laws in a case brought by the Federal Trade Commission and the states of California, Illinois, North Carolina and Ohio. After nearly eight years of litigating and a six-week bench trial, Judge Sue Myerscough of the Central District of Illinois ruled that Dish and the independent contractors it used to help sell its products violated federal and state “Do Not Call” regulations.
