How a $11.7 million fine on Spamhaus turns just $27,002: e360 case outcome

A case against the anti-spam group Spamhaus brought by e360 Insight and its founder David Linhardt was reconsidered by the lower court with a $11.7m verdict cut to just $27,002. US Judge Charles P. Kocoras of the Eastern District of Illinois said the plaintiffs didn’t provide credible calculation of the damages that resulted when its promotional emails were targeted by Spamhaus.

In 2006 e360 sued Spamhaus on the allegations of defamation, tortuous interference with prospective economic advantage and interference with existing contracts. The Internet company claimed that about 3 billion of the more than 6.6 billion emails it sent on behalf of clients were blocked by service providers who subscribed to the Spamhaus real-time blacklist. The court ruled in e360's favor after the volunteer anti-spam group withdrew from the case. The court withdrew a $11.7m verdict against Spamhaus.

When brought to an appeals court the ruling was declined and the case was sent back to the lower court. At a trial in March, e360 reiterated that it suffered huge damages which at different points were calculated at $135m, $122m, and $30m.

“None of these figures was the product of expert testimony or use of a scientific or reliable methodology, nor based on relevant or supportable factual premises,” he wrote in a decision issued on Friday. “As a result, none of the above amounts can be relied on or be a reasonable basis upon which to base a damage award.”

Thus, the judge awarded e360 with $27,000 for interference with existing contracts the company had with three clients, a sum the judge found to be equal to one month of additional work on behalf of the customers. He awarded just $1 apiece on the other two claims, and he said that claims calculated under the defamation part of 3360's case were “speculative and conclusory.”