Flurry of faxes steams businesses

By Jameson Cook, Macomb Daily Staff Writer

Three companies in Oakland and Wayne counties are accusing two Warren companies and a third company of sending "junk fax" ads in bulk in violation of a 1991 federal law created to stop the practice of tying up business fax machines.

Phoenix Communications and Cabling on Schoenherr Road, and Rodnick Fruit and Gift Baskets Inc. on Groesbeck Highway are among three defendants named in one of the lawsuits filed this week. The third defendant is Lake City Industrial Products Inc. in Pennsylvania.

Troy-based companies Closet Man Inc. and J.E. Myles Inc., which filed in Macomb and Oakland counties circuit courts, respectively, and Bella A. Tanning Salon Inc. in Livonia, filed in Wayne County Circuit Court.

The defendants are accused of a practice called "fax blasting" in which companies automatically send hundreds or thousands of faxes to groups of telephone fax numbers in a short period.

More lawsuits are expected to be filed in the county courts in the coming weeks as part of multiple national efforts by companies that claim they were victimized; they are seeking to collect fines from alleged offenders. The Detroit-area plaintiffs are also seeking class-action status in the Michigan courts.

"This law was passed because Congress saw the automated distribution of ads by fax machines was causing companies to lose control of their phone lines," said attorney Brian Wanca of Rolling Meadows, Ill., who represents the plaintiffs. "You had fax blasters that could send thousands of faxes per hour.

"If you didn't have this law, you wouldn't have control over your fax machines."

Wanca said he expects many more Detroit-area plaintiffs to sign on to the case. He said if the lawsuits receive class-action status, other complainants would not have to file legal action.

"We think there are thousands of victims in southeast Michigan," Wanca said.

In two of the lawsuits, Rodnick is accused of committing the act in July 2006, and Lake City of committing the offense in February 2006.

An employee of Rodnick, who did not want to be named, denied the store sends ads without the permission of the recipient.

"We don't advertise over fax machines," the employee said. "The only time we do that is if the customer asks us to fax them something. We used to send fliers in the mail.

"This sounds like somebody with too much time on their hands in this economy."

The employee said three versions of the Rodnick name used in the lawsuit are no longer applicable because the former owner sold the business last June. The new company is Rodnick Co. LLC, the employee said.

Todd Meeder, co-owner of Lake City, on Friday called the allegation against it "bogus."

"We send and receive faxes all the time, but we don't do any bulk faxes," Meeder said. "We do all of that by direct mail."

Southfield-based attorney Jason Thompson, the plaintiffs' local representative, added that in the late 1980s and early 1990s fax blasting was "shutting down the economy. It was costing businesses and their secretaries a lot of time sorting out the ads, tying up the machine, not to mention the cost of toner and paper."

The law — the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (amending the Communications Act of 1934) — prohibits anyone or an entity from sending a fax offering commercial services without the recipient's permission.

Violation carries a fine of $500 per fax and can be increased to $1,500 if the acts were done "knowingly and intentionally" in violation, according to Wanca.

The law has a quirk that allows the lawsuits to be filed in state courts. The cases are handled in federal court only when a state attorney general files suit, Wanca said.

Wanca said his office is handling cases in other states, and attorneys general in several states have filed lawsuits against companies. In addition, other attorneys are pursuing class-action lawsuits.