State v. Heckel

93 P.3d 189
Court of Appeals of Washington·Decided June 28, 2004·No. 51204-8-I·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinion

93 P.3d 189 (2004)
122 Wash.App. 60

STATE of Washington, Appellant,
v.
Jason HECKEL, doing business as Natural Instincts, Respondent.

No. 51204-8-I.

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 1.

June 28, 2004.

*190 Dale Leslie Crandall, Salem, OR, for Appellant.

Paula Lillian Selis, Office of the Attorney General, Seattle, Owen F. Clarke, Jr., Spokane, for Respondent.

KENNEDY, J.

In 1998, the Washington State Attorney General's office filed suit against Oregon resident Jason Heckel, alleging violations of Washington's Commercial Electronic Mail Act (the Act), RCW 19.190. The ACT does not prohibit spam as such; rather, it prohibits misrepresentation in the subject line or transmission path of any unsolicited commercial e-mail message sent from a computer located in Washington, or sent to an e-mail address that the sender knows or has reason to know is held by a Washington resident. It also prohibits use of a third party's Internet domain name without permission of that party. In 2000, on cross-motions for summary judgment, the trial court dismissed the State's claims, concluding that the Act violated the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. In State v. Heckel, 143 Wash.2d 824, 24 P.3d 404, cert. denied, 534 U.S. 997, 122 S.Ct. 467, 151 L.Ed.2d 383 (2001) (Heckel I) our Supreme Court held that the Act does not unduly burden interstate commerce, reversed the dismissal, and remanded the case to the trial court.

In August 2002, the State moved for partial summary judgment. On September 13, 2002, the trial court granted summary judgment to the State, and on October 18, 2002, entered a judgment and decree imposing permanent injunctions and a civil penalty on Heckel, and awarding attorney fees and costs to the State.

Heckel appeals, contending (1) that the State failed to show that he knew or had reason to know that his spam — which contained misrepresentations in the subject lines and used a third party's domain name without permission — had been sent to a particular e-mail address held by a Washington resident, (2) that the Act as applied to him in this case violates the Commerce Clause, and (3) that there is a factual issue for trial regarding whether his subject lines were "misleading" under First Amendment analysis of commercial speech. We reject these contentions and affirm the trial court's judgment and decree.

FACTS

In 1997, Jason Heckel developed a 46-page on-line booklet entitled "How to Profit from the Internet," which included information on setting up an on-line promotional business, acquiring free e-mail accounts, and obtaining software to build basic websites and send bulk e-mail. From June to October 1998, Heckel sent between 100,000 and 1,000,000 unsolicited commercial e-mail, or "spam," messages over the Internet each week. Each message used one of two subject lines: "Did I get the right e-mail address?" and "For your review — HANDS OFF!" Clerk's Papers at 39. The text of each message was a sales pitch for his booklet, priced at $39.95, and included an order form listing the mailing *191 address for Heckel's Salem, Oregon business, Natural Instincts.

In June 1998, after receiving complaints from Washington recipients of Heckel's messages, David Hill of the Attorney General's Office sent Heckel a letter advising him of Washington's new law regarding commercial e-mail. On or around June 25, 1998, Heckel telephoned Hill for more information. During their conversation, Hill explained the provisions of the Act and procedures that bulk e-mailers can use to identify Washington e-mail address holders. Hill specifically referred Heckel to the Washington Association of Internet Providers on-line registry, where Washington residents who do not wish to receive spam can register their e-mail addresses, and thus where responsible e-commerce businesses can find lists of Washington e-mail addresses.

After this conversation, Heckel did nothing to change his spamming procedure, and consumers continued to file complaints with the Attorney General's Office regarding Heckel's spam. Hill created a complaint matrix detailing 20 such complaints, and indicating that at least 16 involved messages received from Heckel after June 26.[1] At least one of these complainants had previously registered her e-mail address at the on-line registry above mentioned, before she received Heckel's spam.

To send his spam, Heckel used at least 12 different Internet addresses with the domain name "juno.com," which accounts were generally cancelled by Juno within two days of his bulk e-mail transmissions. When Juno would shut down one of Heckel's accounts, Heckel would simply open a new one, and send out more batches of spam. Some recipients attempted to reply to Heckel's spam and failed — in some cases because Juno had already terminated the account or accounts from which the spam had been sent.

Some recipients stated that the domain name Heckel used to send the spam was different from the domain identified in the message. In particular, 9 messages indicated that they originated from "13.com" but the "message-id" display demonstrated that they had actually been transmitted from a different domain. The owner of the inactive domain name of "13.com" since 1995 submitted an unrebutted declaration stating that he had never authorized Heckel to use the domain name.

Heckel sold 17 copies of his booklet to Washington residents before the State filed its suit. In September 1998, Heckel cashed a check sent by a Washington resident in response to one of his spam messages.

In response to the State's motion for summary judgment, Heckel did not contest any of the facts above described. The trial court granted the State's motion on September 13, 2002, and on October 18, 2002, granted injunctive relief, imposed a civil penalty of $2000, and ordered Heckel to pay the State's attorney fees and costs of $96,197.74.

ANALYSIS

Viewing all facts in the light most favorable to the party challenging the summary dismissal, this court reviews a trial court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Heckle I, 143 Wash.2d 824, 831-32, 24 P.3d 404 (2001). Summary judgment is proper if there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Kruse v. Hemp, 121 Wash.2d 715, 722, 853 P.2d 1373 (1993); CR 56(c). A legislative act is presumed constitutional, "and the party challenging it bears the burden of proving it unconstitutional beyond a reasonable doubt." Heckel I, 143 Wash.2d at 832, 24 P.3d 404 (quoting State v. Brayman, 110 Wash.2d 183, 193, 751 P.2d 294 (1988)).

The Commercial Electronic Mail Act provides in pertinent part:

(1) No person may initiate the transmission, conspire with another to initiate the transmission, or assist the transmission, of a commercial electronic mail message from a computer located in Washington or to an electronic mail address that the sender *192 knows, or has reason to know, is held by a Washington resident that:
(a)

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State v. Heckel, 93 P.3d 189 (Wash. Ct. App. 2004).

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