Activists’ Lawsuits Target Junk Faxes

A coalition of California activists filed a jaw-dropping $2.2-trillion set of lawsuits against facsimile marketer Fax.com Inc. on Thursday, saying millions of junk faxes are clogging the nation’s fax machines, jamming communications and possibly endangering lives.

The suits, filed in both state and federal courts in California, seek class-action status and punitive damages against Aliso Viejo-based Fax.com; its telecommunications provider, Cox Business Services, a division of Cox Communications Inc., as well as Fax.com’s advertisers.

“The right to free speech stops at the entrance to my house. You are not allowed to invade my privacy and to use my resources to send your message,” said Steve Kirsch, a longtime Internet entrepreneur and philanthropist who announced the lawsuits Thursday.

“They are more than a nuisance; in some cases, they can even endanger public safety,” Kirsch said, saying that unwanted faxes have tied up hospitals’ telecommunications systems.

The lawsuits accuse the named companies of violating federal laws prohibiting junk faxes--unsolicited advertisements or announcements that are sent to millions of personal, corporate and government facsimile machines.

Redefining Progress, an Oakland-based public interest group, filed the federal case.

Fax.com President Kevin Katz rejected the litigation as “unfounded and absurd,” and said the company had the constitutional right to advertise by fax.

“I am dismayed by the outrageous charges leveled in the suit,” Katz said. “To claim that a single fax endangers lives is bizarre.”

A spokesman for Atlanta-based Cox declined to comment.

But in a decision earlier this month, the Federal Communications Commission proposed fining Fax.com $5.38 million for sending unsolicited advertisements by fax, the largest fine ever proposed for such a violation.

Lawyers in the state lawsuit said they would seek a minimum statutory remedy of $500 per fax from every advertiser who used Fax.com to send unsolicited ads over the last four years.

“We will seek treble damages of $1,500 per unsolicited fax from Fax.com and Cox Communications,” Kirsch said.