So 1) Refund all businesses they sold signs to, 2) Send apology letter to each company they sent the letters to advising of the error, and where they can obtain the singage for free 3) Pay a fine on top of that
I had a small business with a dozen employees in the 1990s. I used to get letters like this frequently and it was quite a waste of my time having to determine which ones were legitimate and which ones were not, especially before the World Wide Web existed. May those scammers rot.
This reminds me of the one article you covered about a year or so ago regarding the company who got fined over a billion dollars for all the robocall infractions and then higher court tossed it back down to have it reviewed. The law stated that each infraction was a certain amount and the total was the billion dollar fine. I wonder what happened to that case.
sounds like the Feds and State are not doing enough to inform the small business owners of requirements and the ability to get them free. The money made from this lawsuit should be used to make the information available to the business owners.
But how can you legislate against stupidity? So some scummy company makes it sound like the law requires you put up certain signs if you have a business. I got those mailings after starting an LLC and I am just average and I knew it was BS.
In reality, this company will file bankruptcy with no assets, and the owners will start another business with all the money and do the exact same thing…
I'm very familiar with these mailers. I manage a commercial mail receiving agency, and my small business customers receive them daily. They are required to include a disclaimer something to the effect of, "many if not all of these documents can be obtained for free or at little cost through government agencies". I'm guessing that the company in question did not include this language?
The REAL problem is that individuals are allowed to hide behind corporations. So this company will be fined, and will simply dissolve, make no payouts, and the owners will keep all the ill gotten gains. Or possibly even worse, somehow if this company has insurance, the insurance will pay out and then they will pass that cost along to all the remaining policy holders.
I’ve been in business in California for 40 years. I receive dozens of the solicitations each year. A handful appear to be “official” government communications, but all of them, somewhere in very small print, say it is a solicitation. But I still buy a new poster each year even though I could get all of them for free. Why? I’ll gladly pay the $80 for someone else to do all that printing. Have you ever seen the wall of stuff that California requires you to post? The product is valid, the marketing of it is often scammy. I get mine from the State chamber of commerce.
Some people look at laws like orange traffic cones. Just because one is in your way doesn’t mean that you can’t just run over it and forget it was there.
They broke the law APPROXIMATELY 594,788 times. Again! I mean that's when the business owners need to do some time for it. We'll see though… It took them EIGHT YEARS to do this after they did it before so … we'll see.
If they can sue small-time individuals downloading music for tens of thousands of dollars for every track they grabbed, they can most certainly fine business for every piece of illegal junk they send out.
You need to do a deeper dive into this. This Washington AG sues all the time to bring in money from out of state businesses! Washington requires a sign or sticker for nearly everything by the way as well.
Why are these business owners not in jail? If you steal money from the lower/middle class nothing happens to you in this country, only when rich people start getting scammed does anything happen. This crap is prevalent throughout our society
I've been a small business owner in NC since 1997. These mail advertisements are commonplace. One check at the Department of Labor website cleared everything up. I never purchase anything from companies like this. It's a SCAM.
Question? Is the information on these posteres current, accurate, and apply to the state where they are displayed? If so that MIGHT GO TOWARDS THERE DEFENCE! ya right.
I use to have a small company that sold stuff on Ebay. I believe I may have gotten one of the mailings from this company. I ignored it as I did not have any employees except for me.
Washington AG is corrupt as they come I think he is running for governor. With mail in ballot voting only, republicans don't stand a chance. Liberal dim wits have been in the governor seat since 1984. Born and raised in WA. The Democrat's have destroyed the cost of living. Toll roads and bridges, grossly inflated property assessments to raise property taxes. Unelected official's applying high fees for inspections and permits. One of the highest gas tax in the nation. Outrageous vehicle registration. High vehicle theft due to no consequences for offenders. A deputy sheriff arrested the same kid in a different stolen car THREE nights in a row. After 58 years I finally had enough and moved my family to another state.
Pretty sure my wife and her best friend may have received something from these people. They filed all the stuff for an LLC for their business idea. After getting the license I remember them getting mail from someone sounding official with threats that they had to post posters for their employees… just like this. And those posters would cost hundreds of dollars. They ignored it because the company is just the 2 of them. We're in Maryland. Wish we had kept that mail.
"Rules for thee but not for me!" That Michigan companies mantra. Prepare yourselves for what we feel in our bones lies ahead. Psalms 144:1
Facilitate victims of a company's violation of a court order to directly sue for what it cost them plus lawyer costs and damages.
And when WA is done with you TN want's a piece, what ever is left of you AZ in in line… wait, lets do this alphabetically.
So 1) Refund all businesses they sold signs to,
2) Send apology letter to each company they sent the letters to advising of the error, and where they can obtain the singage for free
3) Pay a fine on top of that
That should do it….
Their business motto must have been "Rules are meant to be broken"……….
Ben caught between the Barrister Dog & bookcase end; second shelf, screen right, Steve’s left.
Amazing what the WA AG will prosecute when he's running for governor…..
Impersonating a government entity?
I had a small business with a dozen employees in the 1990s. I used to get letters like this frequently and it was quite a waste of my time having to determine which ones were legitimate and which ones were not, especially before the World Wide Web existed. May those scammers rot.
Washington seeks to HELP businesses?
The Washington AG is well know to be corrupt as hell.
This reminds me of the one article you covered about a year or so ago regarding the company who got fined over a billion dollars for all the robocall infractions and then higher court tossed it back down to have it reviewed. The law stated that each infraction was a certain amount and the total was the billion dollar fine. I wonder what happened to that case.
sounds like the Feds and State are not doing enough to inform the small business owners of requirements and the ability to get them free. The money made from this lawsuit should be used to make the information available to the business owners.
But how can you legislate against stupidity? So some scummy company makes it sound like the law requires you put up certain signs if you have a business. I got those mailings after starting an LLC and I am just average and I knew it was BS.
In reality, this company will file bankruptcy with no assets, and the owners will start another business with all the money and do the exact same thing…
I'm very familiar with these mailers. I manage a commercial mail receiving agency, and my small business customers receive them daily. They are required to include a disclaimer something to the effect of, "many if not all of these documents can be obtained for free or at little cost through government agencies". I'm guessing that the company in question did not include this language?
Isn’t this federal mail fraud?
The human animal is infected with the sickness of greed.
The REAL problem is that individuals are allowed to hide behind corporations. So this company will be fined, and will simply dissolve, make no payouts, and the owners will keep all the ill gotten gains. Or possibly even worse, somehow if this company has insurance, the insurance will pay out and then they will pass that cost along to all the remaining policy holders.
I’ve been in business in California for 40 years. I receive dozens of the solicitations each year. A handful appear to be “official” government communications, but all of them, somewhere in very small print, say it is a solicitation. But I still buy a new poster each year even though I could get all of them for free. Why? I’ll gladly pay the $80 for someone else to do all that printing. Have you ever seen the wall of stuff that California requires you to post? The product is valid, the marketing of it is often scammy. I get mine from the State chamber of commerce.
Some people look at laws like orange traffic cones. Just because one is in your way doesn’t mean that you can’t just run over it and forget it was there.
Ben Hundo's on the 3rd shelf down, right, above the U.S. Coast Guard and to the right of the Barrister Dog
This is very common, happened to me in Pennsylvania. Thankfully I didn't pay them!
They broke the law APPROXIMATELY 594,788 times. Again! I mean that's when the business owners need to do some time for it. We'll see though… It took them EIGHT YEARS to do this after they did it before so … we'll see.
Punishment with a fine just means legal for a price…
If they can sue small-time individuals downloading music for tens of thousands of dollars for every track they grabbed, they can most certainly fine business for every piece of illegal junk they send out.
Isn't that also Federal Mail Fraud? The owners and officers should each personally have to reimburse 100 times the amount they defrauded.
Scam texts come daily from small companies
You need to do a deeper dive into this. This Washington AG sues all the time to bring in money from out of state businesses! Washington requires a sign or sticker for nearly everything by the way as well.
I thought you had the right to a trial by jury..
I've always felt like they were scummy in general.
Oh, I didn't think that injunction pertained to me. Jail time and hefty fines.
😂the entire government be like "rookies"
We're they fined $1 per infraction? Sounds about how businesses get punished
Looks like Donald setup shop in Michigan. We have good LLC laws.
goes to show you that fines aren't really going to stop some people.
As a small business owner I got a call from these people. They seemed shocked when I said no. So you don't want to be legal?!
Why are these business owners not in jail? If you steal money from the lower/middle class nothing happens to you in this country, only when rich people start getting scammed does anything happen. This crap is prevalent throughout our society
I've been a small business owner in NC since 1997. These mail advertisements are commonplace. One check at the Department of Labor website cleared everything up. I never purchase anything from companies like this. It's a SCAM.
Question? Is the information on these posteres current, accurate, and apply to the state where they are displayed? If so that MIGHT GO TOWARDS THERE DEFENCE! ya right.
Lmao this guy needs to get a government job, he'll be safe. 😅😅😅
I use to have a small company that sold stuff on Ebay. I believe I may have gotten one of the mailings from this company. I ignored it as I did not have any employees except for me.
It's because of deceptive practices like this that people end up getting screwed when they throw out actual official communications.
Even if someone believed the spam letter, I don't know anyone who wouldn't either snap a photo and print it or copy it in Word and print it.
Why are they getting fined instead of put in prison? That is the problem.
Washington AG is corrupt as they come I think he is running for governor. With mail in ballot voting only, republicans don't stand a chance. Liberal dim wits have been in the governor seat since 1984. Born and raised in WA. The Democrat's have destroyed the cost of living. Toll roads and bridges, grossly inflated property assessments to raise property taxes. Unelected official's applying high fees for inspections and permits. One of the highest gas tax in the nation. Outrageous vehicle registration. High vehicle theft due to no consequences for offenders. A deputy sheriff arrested the same kid in a different stolen car THREE nights in a row. After 58 years I finally had enough and moved my family to another state.
It has me wondering if public floggings in cases like this, might be a good deterrent.
Pretty sure my wife and her best friend may have received something from these people. They filed all the stuff for an LLC for their business idea. After getting the license I remember them getting mail from someone sounding official with threats that they had to post posters for their employees… just like this. And those posters would cost hundreds of dollars. They ignored it because the company is just the 2 of them. We're in Maryland. Wish we had kept that mail.