Court Upholds Huge Damages Verdict Against ViSalus
The class-action suit argued that the nearly 2 million prerecorded "robocalls" placed by ViSalus to potential customers violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Each violation called for a $500 penalty under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
Attorney Benjamin G. Shatz, representing ViSalus, wrote to the court that "ViSalus is in no position to pay any eight-digit judgment. ViSalus is not Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, or Google. It is a small direct sales company that sells nutritional supplements and weight loss products. It has no hard assets; all it possesses is a network and a brand." He requested that the court reduce the damages to less than a dollar per call.
U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon dismissed the ViSalus argument, writing in his opinion, "ViSalus's understanding of the limitations on damages imposed by due process implies that a constitutional penalty for a single violation becomes unconstitutional if the defendant commits the violation enough times."
Related News
-
ViSalus CEO Steps Down
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 22, 2016 -- ViSalus CEO Ryan Blair today announced a new investor group and corporate restructuring designed to strengthen the company's balance sheet. As part of this transaction, Blair announced he is stepping down as CEO to devote more time to his venture capital firm and toward... Read More...ViSalus Launches New Consumer Initiatives for 2016
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 17, 2016 -- As ViSalus prepares to celebrate 11 years in business, the company's continued focus on creating industry-leading high value nutritional products for consumers has never been more clear. Early results have shown that key initiatives launched at the beginning of 2016 are... Read More...ViSalus Launches Vi-Shape Superfood Shake
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 19, 2016 -- Built on a decade of science and a heritage of over 3 million health transformations, ViSalus launched into 2016 by debuting its first premium superfood product, Vi-ShapeŽ Superfood Shake. This vegan, kosher, lactose-free* and gluten-free Vi-Shape Superfood Shake formul... Read More...ViSalus Launches NEON Energy Drink
LOS ANGELES, April 20, 2015 -- ViSalus officially launched NEON Energy Drink as part of its expanding product line portfolio at its National Success Training (NST) event in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on April 11-12. This launch marks ViSalus' entry into the canned energy drink category - furthering it... Read More...