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Vista Marketing, LLCv.Terri A. Burkett

CourtUnited States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
Docket No.14-14068
DecidedFebruary 4, 2016
Reporter812 F.3d 954
JudgesCircuit Judges Rosenbaum and Fay, and District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks sitting by designation; Rosenbaum authored
Tags
CivilStatutory InterpretationDamagesFirst AmendmentAppellate ProcedureReversalRemand
Case Summary

The jury found 450 Stored Communications Act violations but awarded no actual or punitive damages. The Eleventh Circuit held that the Act does not permit statutory damages without actual damages, so it vacated the district court’s statutory-damages award of fifty thousand dollars; it also affirmed the denial of punitive damages and attorney’s fees. The court rejected Burkett’s challenges to the SCA verdict, jury instructions, evidentiary rulings, and denial of judgment as a matter of law. Judge Fay specially concurred: he agreed the award of fifty thousand dollars should be reversed, but would have remanded with instructions to reinstate the jury’s zero-damages verdict. The judgment was affirmed in part and vacated in part.

Opinion

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Vista Marketing, LLC v. Terri A. Burkett — The Atlanta Gleaner