SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced that California was awarded a $53.25 million judgment yesterday against Dish Network after it engaged in a nationwide campaign of illegal telemarketing and made unwanted calls to thousands of people registered on the Do Not Call registry, many of them California residents. The ruling was made by Judge Sue Myerscough of the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois.
“As families gather around the dinner table each night, they shouldn’t be bombarded by unwanted telemarketing calls,” said Attorney General Becerra. “Congress established the Do Not Call list to empower consumers and prevent these calls. Dish Network chose to ignore the rules, repeatedly and intentionally violating state and federal telemarketing laws. That type of abuse of Californians guarantees that my team at the Department of Justice will prosecute the wrongdoers."
The Court entered the judgment against Dish after a five-week bench trial. The Court also ordered robust injunctive relief requiring Dish Network to reform its telemarketing practices. California was joined by co-plaintiffs the federal government, North Carolina, and Ohio in this action.
When he assumed office, Attorney General Becerra committed to protect consumers as a top priority. Since then, he has announced a $33 million multi-state settlement with Johnson and Johnson marketing over-the-counter medicines that failed to meet quality standards; a $586 million multi-state settlement with Western Union for wire fraud scams; and a record $18.5 million multi-state settlement with Target, in response to allegations that over 40 million customers had their payment card information compromised during the 2013 holiday season after the company failed to provide reasonable data security.
