Store that sent 500 messages by email and SMS is sentenced to R$ 5 thousand – APK Games

A customer received more than 500 inappropriate advertising messages from a clothing store in just over two years, even after asking to be unsubscribed from the database and no longer receiving spam. Unable to resolve it, he appealed to the courts and won. The establishment was ordered to pay R$ 5 thousand in compensation for moral damages.

The case was judged in the 12th Civil Court of Santos (SP), of the Court of Justice of the State of São Paulo (TJSP). According to the plaintiff’s account, the messages began to be sent on June 8, 2020, via email. There were more than 500 messages — considering the period, that’s more than one message every two days.

The consumer tried to resolve the solution through the administrative route, without success. He then filed two lawsuits, which ended up extinct. The store also started to send SMS.

The client then tried a third lawsuit, asking to be removed from the database and demanding compensation for moral damages.

The clothing store did not respond, and was tried in absentia. When this happens, the facts presented by the plaintiff are assumed to be true.

Spam caused “shattering of psychic integrity”

The judge of the 12th Civil Court of Santos of the TJSP considered that the store disrespected article 6, item IV of the Consumer Protection Code. The text defines that the customer is entitled to protection against abusive advertising and against coercive or unfair commercial methods.

In the sentence, the magistrate also states that the store’s conduct exceeded the limits of “everyday annoyances” and caused “shattering to the psychic integrity” of the customer, which constitutes moral damage.

Thus, the decision established the payment of R$ 5 thousand in compensation for moral damages by the store. The judge considers that the amount is not too high to enrich the victim, nor too low to be negligible to the convict. The amount initially requested, however, was greater than that.

The store in question will also have to pay R$ 1,500 in court costs and legal fees.

With information: crumbs.