Commonwealth Energy Corp. v. Investor Data Exchange, Inc.
Opinion
Opinion
Sills, J.
I
In this case we affirm the denial of defendant Investor Data Exchange’s anti- SLAPP suit motion. Just because a telemarketing pitch is made on behalf of a firm that sells information does not mean that the pitch is being made in connection with a public issue or an issue of public interest.
II
During his tenure as CEO of plaintiff Commonwealth Energy Corporation, Fred Bloom gave Henry Gomez, an employee of Investor Data, a list of Commonwealth’s shareholders. Investor Data then used the list to “contact” the shareholders on the phone and offer them Investor Data’s services, including a free one-year membership.
The contact just mentioned can most accurately be described as “telemarketing,” with most of the pejorative connotations which the word has come to bear in the early 21st century. (E.g., Probst, Telemarketing, Commercial Speech, and Central Hudson: Potential First Amendment Problems for Indiana Code Section 24-4.7 and Other “Do-Not-Call” Legislation (2002) 37 Val. U. L.Rev. 347, 347 [“Which do Americans hate more; Osama Bin Laden or telemarketers?”].) As acknowledged in the appellant’s opening brief, the callers were instructed to follow a “carefully drafted…