Questions Persist After Ruling Skirts $925M TCPA Award Issue
By Michael Klotz ( April 12, 2024, 5:52 PM EDT) -- In Wakefield v. ViSalus Inc. , the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 2022 vacated a statutory damages award under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act for more than $925 million and remanded the case to the U. S. District Court for the District of Oregon to
assess in the first instance, guided by [prior case law] and this opinion, whether the aggregate award . . . in this class action is so severe and oppressive that it violates [the defendant's] due process rights and, if so, by how much the cumulative award should be reduced. [1]
The Wakefield decision promised to help clarify an important legal question that has persisted for more than a century: When does a statutory damages award violate due process because it is "so severe and oppressive as to be wholly disproportioned to the offense and obviously unreasonable? "[2]. . .
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