Treble Damages Require Willful, Knowing Conduct, Ninth Circuit Says

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently weighed in on treble damages in a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) dispute involving junk faxes.

True Health Chiropractic sued McKesson Corp. for violating the statute, alleging that McKesson sent True Health 13 faxes advertising and offering rebates for medical billing software.

When True Health moved to certify a class of fellow recipients of such faxes, it also asked for treble damages. In support, it pointed to a 2008 citation against McKesson from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for sending "one or more unsolicited advertisements to telephone facsimile machines in violation of Section 227(b)(1)(C) of the [TCPA]."