An ISP in the state of Washington is suing a mortgage company that it has
accused of flooding it with misleading junk e-mail in violation of a state
law.
The $6 million lawsuit, filed in Skagit County Superior Court in Mount
Vernon, is against CTX Mortgage, a subsidiary of Dallas-based Centex Corp.,
according to the Associated Press.
The law makes it illegal to send unsolicited commercial e-mail with
misleading subject lines, phony return addresses and false headers. A $1,000
penalty can be assessed for each illegal e-mail sent through an Internet
service provider.
Brady Johnson, Seattle attorney for Connect Northwest, the Mount
Vernon-based company that filed the lawsuit, said CTX overwhelmed Connect
Northwest’s network by sending 5,800 unsolicited e-mail messages April 8 and
9 advertising home mortgages.
The subject line for the messages contained the phrase “a gift for you,” and
the e-mail’s return address was phony, Johnson said.
The flood of messages disrupted Connect Northwest’s mail servers and shut
down service to customers for a time. In a statement, CTX said it was
investigating the incident.
“What we have learned is that the e-mails in question represent an isolated
incident involving an outside vendor,” the company said.
“CTX takes the anti-spamming laws seriously and immediately stopped the
activity pending investigation of this matter,” the statement said.