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A class action lawsuit that could lead to as much as $6 billion in damages, brought by St. Louis residents Ron and Dorit Golan, and which involves Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee may now go forward after previously having been dismissed. This due to a reversal made by the Federal 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The suit revolves around a series of robocalls made using a recording of the former governor of Arkansas back in 2012. Huckabee lent his voice to Veritas Entertainment for the promotion of the movie “Last Ounce of Courage.” The calls were an unusual form of advertising, to say the least, for a movie.
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The film was about a fallen American soldier.
In the calls, Huckabee said, “Do you agree that traditional American values are under attack in mainstream media and by our government? Would you, like me, Mike Huckabee, like to see Hollywood respect and promote traditional American values?”
So why the lawsuit? The plaintiffs claim that the calls violated the Telephone Communication Protection Act and Missouri’s Do Not Call Law. But in 2014, a federal judge disagreed and dismissed the suit saying that the Golans could not demonstrate that they were injured in any way by the calls.
Now Eighth Circuit Court judge Diana Murphy has ruled that the calls did constitute telemarketing and, therefore, violated the anti-robocalling law saying in her ruling, “Although the campaign appeared to survey whether recipients had ‘traditional American values, ‘ [the calls were] more concerned with getting viewers to see Last Ounce of Courage than gathering information about them.” This is important as it means that the calls were not about political or religious speech protected under the U.S. Constitution, but were about selling a product.
An attorney for the plaintiffs Ronald J. Eisenberg told Jewish Business news that the suit could be worth as much as $6 billion. “Under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. 227, statutory damages are $500 to $1, 500 per illegal call. The defendants admitted to placing 4 million calls. Therefore, it could be a $2 billion to $6 billion case, ” he explained.
