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Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Ind. Decisions - "Court rules on robo call ban: Law applies to political messages"

The Supreme Court's decision yesterday in the case of State of Indiana v. American Family Voices, Inc., Jim Gonzalez, et al (see ILB summary here), is the subject of a story today in the LCJ reported by Lesley Stedman Weidenbener. Some quotes:

INDIANAPOLIS – In a case that began with the Ninth Congressional District race two years ago, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a state law banning pre-recorded, automated phone calls applies to commercial and non-commercial calls -- even those made for political purposes.

The 5-0 decision means Attorney General Steve Carter can proceed with an enforcement action against American Family Voices for allegedly using autodialing machines during the 2006 campaign between Democrat Baron Hill and Republican Mike Sodrel.

But the legal battle may be far from over.

Jim Bopp, a Terre Haute attorney representing the state Republican and Democratic parties in the case, said the court didn't address the larger issue of whether banning automated political calls violates constitutionally protected free speech.

"It could not have been a more limited ruling," Bopp said. "When it goes back to the trial court, those issues can be raised … and we'll be arguing the same issues again."

The focus of the court was whether the 1988 law applied only to calls involving sales or other commercial messages. The ruling was that the law was meant for "all autodialer calls, not just consumer transaction calls with commercial messages." * * *

Although Indiana's law was passed 20 years ago, it wasn't enforced against campaigns until 2006, when [Attorney General Steve] Carter wrote to the parties to warn them that it applied to political calls. The parties abided by the ban, but some out-of-state special-interest groups -- including American Family Voices -- did not.

After receiving six complaints from Ninth District voters, Carter filed a lawsuit against American Family Voices seeking penalties of up to $5,000 for each alleged violation of the law.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 24, 2008 10:31 AM
Posted to Ind. Sup.Ct. Decisions