Cooper joined with the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Attorneys General of Illinois, California and Ohio in filing suit against DISH Network on Wednesday.
The complaint alleges that DISH Network telemarketers violated state and federal telemarketing laws by calling individuals listed on the national Do Not Call registry and by failing to honor consumers’ requests to stop getting the calls.
Cooper also said that some of the calls also violated state law by using an automatic dialer with a prerecorded voice to place so called "robo calls" to consumers. Robo calls are illegal in North Carolina unless a live caller first gets the consumer’s permission to play a recorded message.
Cooper is seeking civil penalties of up to $500 per violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and state penalties of $500 for the first violation, $1,000 for the second, and $5,000 for the third and subsequent violations.
Since 2006, Cooper’s Consumer Protection Division has received more than 250 complaints against DISH Network for making unwanted telemarketing calls. He said that was more than any other company during that time period.
Anyone who wants to sign up for the Do Not Call Registry can go to www.donotcall.gov.
