Craigslist Wins a $60 Million Judgment Based Primarily On CAN-SPAM Violations

In April 2017, a California court awarded just over $60 million to Craigslist in their suit against an online real estate rental service. The judgment was primary based on CAN-SPAM violations.

Craigslist won $40 million for violations related to 400,000 emails, or $100 per email. The email violations included:

  • Deceptive subject lines
  • Examples included: “A Landlord messaged you”, “Your charming Apartment”, “Love your place!”
  • Deceptive message content
  • The absence of a functioning unsubscribe method
  • The absence of a physical postal address for the sender

The case included a number of different issues, but it is one more reminder of the potentially severe consequences that can result from the failure to adhere to CAN-SPAM requirements.

The real estate rental service, RadPad, which had raised approximately $13 million in private equity and had as many as half a million active users, struggled under the weight of the legal fees. According to TechCrunch, it was sold in early 2017 after nearly shutting down.

A copy of the complaint can be found through this link (details of the CAN-SPAM claim for relief begin on page 12, row 8):

https://www.scribd.com/doc/313832868/CraigslistVRadpad-Complaint?secret_password=7gTybamKvrbeVhxfi4mx

A copy of the final judgment can be found here:

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