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Junk Fax Links
Junk Fax Law
Arizona's Anti-Junk
Fax LawArizona's Anti-Junk Fax Law
House Bill 2346
by Richard Keyt
May 18, 2003
On May 12, 2003, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano signed House Bill 2346, which affects unsolicited commercial fax ads. Recognizing that the $1,500 penalty applicable to the sending of a single unsolicited commercial fax currently provided by federal law is not sufficient to deter fax blasters, the Governor and the Arizona legislature, with the enactment of HB 2346, have sent a clear message to senders of unsolicited commercial faxes that they can blast away to Arizona residents with near impunity under state law.
Arizona's new anti-junk fax law provides that fax blasters who send unsolicited commercial fax advertisements (a term not defined in the statute) are liable to the recipient for FIVE DOLLARS ($5) per faxed page, but only after the recipient notifies the sender that the recipient does not want any more faxes!
Reasons Why HB 2346 is a Joke
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Senders of junk faxes are now required to include the name, address, fax number and toll free or local contact telephone number of the vendor that sends the fax. Senders who fail to comply with this requirement are liable for the following: BIG FAT NOTHING!
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Senders of junk faxes usually do not identify who they are (no name, address or phone number) so it is frequently impossible to notify the sender to cease sending faxes. If you cannot notify the sender, you do not have the right under Arizona's anti-junk law to $5/page for future faxes from the sender.
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THE PENALTY IS $5/PAGE!!!!! Imagine the response a sender of a junk fax will have when he receives your Certified Mail, Return Receipt Letter (mailing cost approximately $4.50) notifying him that he violated Arizona's anti-junk fax law and that you will sue him unless he sends you FIVE DOLLARS ($5).
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The filing fee for a lawsuit in Arizona justice courts is $40 and in Superior Courts it is $190. A cost conscious recipient might wait until he or she gets at least 8 ($40) or 38 ($190) junk faxes (after giving a cease and desist notice to the sender) before filing a lawsuit. When you add the cost of service of process ($50 - $200), recipients will have to wait until they get another 10 - 40 faxes before their damages equal the costs of filing and serving the complaint.
- The law does not provide for attorneys' fees. Sometimes people are stupid, but nobody is stupid enough (except perhaps Arizona state legislators and governors) to hire an attorney to prepare a complaint and file a lawsuit to collect $5 in damages for a single fax (ok, maybe an enlightened plaintiff might collect 100 faxes over a two or three year period and then sue for $500) and pursue litigation without any chance to recover their attorneys' fees.
The Good News
Arizona's new anti-junk fax law is not completely worthless. The new law has two redeeming features:
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It can always be used as a bad example; and
- It makes it clear that Arizona sanctions the federal anti-junk fax law.
The Text of Arizona's Anti-Junk Fax Law
44-1482. Unsolicited fax advertisements; definition
A. Each unsolicited commercial fax advertisement shall include the name, address, fax number and toll free or local contact telephone number of the vendor that sends the fax.
B. Any person who receives an unsolicited commercial fax advertisement may contact the vendor that sent the fax and request that no further faxes be sent. On receiving a request that no further faxes be sent, a vendor shall have three business days to update its records. If the vendor continues to send unsolicited commercial faxes three business days after the person requests not to receive further faxes, the person may charge the vendor five dollars for each faxed page received.
C. This section shall not be construed to alter or restrict any rights a person may have under federal law to recover for the sending of an unsolicited commercial fax advertisement by a vendor.
D. For the purposes of this section, "vendor" means any individual, corporation, business trust, partnership, association or other legal entity.
Who to Thank
Here are the names and links to the biography pages and email addresses of the sponsors of House Bill 2346:
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Caution to Senders of Junk Faxes
Although Arizona's new anti-junk fax law may be toothless, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 continues to prohibit the sending of certain unsolicited faxes and provides for penalties of as much as $1,500 for the first and every subsequent fax.
About the Author
Richard Keyt, J.D., LL.M. (income taxation New York University Law School) is a business, real estate, transactions, contracts and estate planning attorney licensed to practice law in Arizona. He has formed over 1,500+ Arizona limited liability companies in the last few years because his low cost high quality LLC package is second to none and it only costs $599 for everything. Rick has practiced law in Arizona since 1980. Rick can be reached by telephone at 602-906-4953, ext. 101. Email at rickkeyt@keytlaw.com and fax at 602-297-6890. Rick's web site located at www.keytlaw.com had over 1,000,000 visitors in 2006 and 2007. Rick does not accept matters involving landlord / tenant disputes or litigation of any kind (other than tax lien foreclosures). Communicating with Richard Keyt via email or otherwise does not cause you to become a client or cause your communications to be confidential or subject to the attorney client privilege.
This page was last modified on July 22, 2007.
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