Washington cut CEMA damages from $500 to $100 per message
How much are CEMA damages per email in Washington?
In one sentence
Washington cut statutory damages per email from $500 to $100 (June 2026) — still dangerous at list scale.
Emailrules interpretation
Damages per violating email in Washington fell from $500 to $100 for cases from that date, including older sends newly filed. Good news on the per-message number; bad news is the same: volume × class size still multiplies fast.
Why it matters. Do not read “lower damages” as “safe to run grey subjects.” Clean copy is still cheaper than litigation.
Dotted words open definitions. See how email actually works.
What to do
Your move — not a lecture
Good to know — nothing to fix
Changes a number you report or a risk you carry, not today's task list.
Nothing to do here. This changes the size of a risk you already had, not what you should do about it.
Your part: One thing did change in your favour: the amendment added a knowledge element, so a documented pre-send review is now directly useful as evidence rather than just good practice.
What to do first
Nothing today. If you already keep a dated record of what each campaign claimed, that record just became more valuable.
Who this applies to
Anyone facing or fearing a Washington claim. ISP damages stay at 1,000 dollars per message.
Checklist
- 01Do not read this as an all-clear. Exposure was always volume multiplied by class size, and that has not changed.
- 02Note the retroactivity: emails sent before June 2026 are now governed by the new, more defendant-friendly text for any newly filed case.
- 03The added knowledge element means documented pre-send review is now directly useful as evidence.
That’s enough to act. The exact wording, the enforcement record and the primary source sit under Proof & sources, for counsel, bosses, or AI tools that need a citation. Not legal advice.
Proof
Exact position, enforcement, sources
For records and people who will check you. Skip if Monday’s move is already clear.
Source fact
Engrossed Substitute House Bill 2274 cut statutory damages to a recipient from 500 dollars to 100 dollars per message, and added a knowledge element to the misleading-subject-line provision. It applies to any case commenced on or after 11 June 2026, regardless of when the emails were sent.
What happens if you do not
Filings continued after the amendment, with cases against Cole Haan, Wayfair and others filed in July 2026. Whether the wave survives the five-fold damages cut is genuinely unsettled, and is the single biggest open question in this area.
Source
- Washington ESHB 2274, Chapter 135, Laws of 2026, effective 11 June 2026Published 23 Mar 2026Read primary source
History of this page
- Added.
Related
Take this with you
GET https://emailrules.today/rules/washington-cema-damages-reduced?format=json
Same URL, same answer, every field including the ones behind the Proof tab. An Accept: application/json header on the plain URL does the same thing. All the endpoints.