On January 28, 2010, the Florida Supreme Court ruled in Penzer v. Transportation Insurance Company “that an advertising injury provision in a commercial liability policy that provides coverage for an “oral or written publication of material that violates a person?s right of privacy” provides coverage for blast-faxing in violation of the TCPA.” Marc A. Wites argued this case in The Florida Supreme Court in August 2009. This decision is part of a 7-year old litigation that began in 2003 when Southeast Wireless sent 24,000 unsolicited facsimile advertisements to Floridians in violation of The Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Southeast’s insurer, Transportation Insurance Company, refused to defend Southeast, and the action was settled pursuant to what is known as a Coblentz Agreement, under which Penzer obtained a 12 million dollar judgment for the Class. Since that time, Wites & Rogers, along with their co-counsel, Robbins Geller Rudman t Dowd LLP have been litigating to obtain these funds from Transportation. As a result of the Florida Supreme Court’s decision, the action has now been returned to The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, where the litigation continues.
