A final $60.5 million judgement was issued against RadPad Inc. after the upstart was found liable for unlawfully scraping apartment listings and spamming users of rival Craigslist Inc.
However, it is not clear how much of the judgement, if any, Craigslist will actually receive. RadPad handed over its assets in November to Insolvency Service Group Inc., a law firm that handles the assets of financially distressed companies. Then in January the firm was acquired by tenant-screening service LandlordStation of Dallas for an undisclosed amount.
RadPad is liable for $40 million worth of violations of the federal Can-Spam Act based on 400,000 emails it sent to Craigslist users, according to the judgement. About $20 million of the liabilities come from infringing on patents owned by Craigslist. RadPad did not object to the judgment.
RadPad founder Jonathan Eppers resigned from his role as the company’s chief executive in January. He wrote in an email that Craigslist’s lawsuit was an unfair use of the courts to stamp out an upstart rival.
“The judgement against RadPad is nothing more than theatrics that Craigslist can now use to scare the living hell out of other startup companies that threaten Craigslist’s existence, which is the genesis of this entire case against us,” he wrote. “Craigslist will get nothing out of this other than to say they got a default judgement against a competitor who would have cleaned their clock had we had the resources to fight all the way.”
Craigslist did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
RadPad was founded in 2013 and raised about $12.8 million. The company had about 500,000 active monthly users searching the site for rental listings when it was sued by Craiglist last year. Eppers told TechCrunch in January that the company generated about $1.8 million in annual revenue.
Technology reporter Garrett Reim can be reached at greim@labusinessjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @garrettreim for the latest in L.A. tech news.
