As Professor Finn Brunton observes, spam evokes strong responses. Dan Balsam, a California lawyer, has made a career of suing spammers and maintains one of the most comprehensive resources for small-claims antispam litigants.14 Balsam and Timothy Walton brought the first consumer spam case that went to trial in California, against a spammer that raised eighteen affirmative defenses to the complaint. The trial court awarded Balsam $7,000 in damages and over $80,000 in attorneys fees. The case, which concerned eight e-mails, took three years to resolve and involved appeals to the US Supreme Court. Balsam and Walton have written a humorous history of the convoluted case.15
14 Dan Hates Spam, www.danhatesspam.com/
15 Dan Balsam & Timothy Walton, Balsam v. Trancos Inc., TRIAL LAWYER 14 (Summer 2012).