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DISH Network Penalized with $280M Telemarketing Lawsuit

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DISH Network Corp. was recently penalized by the U.S. District Judge for the Central Illinois District, Sue Myerscough with a fine-cum-damage recovery cost of $280 million in relation to the eight-year-old ‘robocall’ telemarketing lawsuit. This is possibly the biggest judgment ever related with such a case.

The satellite company has been ordered by the district judge to pay $168 million to the U.S. government and $84 million to California, Illinois, North Carolina and Ohio for federal law violations. An additional $28 million in fines was awarded to California, North Carolina and Ohio for violations of state law.

In Mar 2009, the four states and Federal Trade Commission sued DISH Network for allegedly violating the National Do Not Call Registry laws, after the company settled with 46 states. Allegations brought against DISH Network claim that the company has made around 55 million illegitimate calls to National Do-Not-Call registered subscribers.

DISH Network respectfully disagrees with the court’s decision and claims to appeal for the same.

The judge further added that DISH Network should employ a telemarketing compliance expert to formulate a long-term plan to ensure concurrence with the do not call laws.

We expect DISH Network to quickly resolve all such disputes and focus on its growth strategies. The company’s top-line growth continues to remain under pressure due to the its failure to strike any deal with wireless operators to deploy a nationwide wireless network. This acts as a major headwind for the company.

Price Performance and Zacks Rank

Over the past three months, share price of DISH Network inched up 8.10% but failed to beat the Zacks-categorized Cable Television industry’s 9.93% gain.

DISH Network is the second largest satellite TV operator in the U.S. Currently, DISH Network is a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Latest Lawsuits and their Settlements

Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM - Free Report) , the largest mobile chipset manufacturer using baseband technology globally, is frequently found engaged in any lawsuits and their payments. Recently, the company settled a licensing dispute with BlackBerry Ltd. by paying U.S. $940 million, on or before May 31, 2017. This is in relation to the over-payment by BlackBerry to Qualcomm in royalty payments from 2010 to 2015 under terms of a licensing deal.

Meanwhile, Qualcomm has been engaged in a $1 billion lawsuit related to licensing royalty payments by tech giant Apple Inc. (AAPL - Free Report) , since Jan 2017.

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