• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, October 28, 2025

California is becoming a dangerous state for email marketers. Companies have been hit with a new wave of anti-spam class actions under California’s anti-spam law, raising significant risks, according to an advisory from the Crowell law firm. 

For one thing, plaintiffs argue that firms can be held liable for unlawful emails even without direct involvement, and whether they were intended or not. This would impact any company that sends commercial emails to California residents, even through third-party vendors or affiliates.  

Moreover, the claims seek $1,000 per email per recipient, which can result in multimillion-dollar exposure in class actions.

Advertisers and brands that benefit from email campaigns face the highest risk. 

Even without substantial judgments, defending against class actions can be costly and waste valuable management time. 

Crowell has analyzed over 20 complaints filed in the last 15 months against retailers and providers of loan services, tax support and insurance.

The biggest complaints are that defendants sent emails without valid opt-in and/or opt-out mechanisms, and that they employed false or untraceable email header information and misleading subject lines, and used third-party domain names without permission. 

The complaints assert that defendants falsified, misrepresented or utilized untraceable or phony email header information (sender names, domain names, etc.); used third-party domain names without permission; used irrelevant and misleading subject lines; and/or sent emails without valid opt-in and/or opt-out mechanisms. 

But there is one remedy: Compliance. Damages can be capped if the defendant demonstrates that they have robust anti-spam policies and procedures. 

Crowell advises email senders to:

• Review and update email marketing policies
• Implement robust compliance procedures
• Monitor third-party vendors
• Maintain documentation