Amy Atchley of Petaluma-based Amy’s Roofing and Solar said her small business was sued this spring over routine website tools used to help limit advertising to people in the company’s service area, forcing her to make a choice between fighting the case and settling.
The lawsuit, filed in Sonoma County by a plaintiff from Los Angeles, threatened more than $100,000 in damages, Atchley said during a Thursday virtual news conference urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign Senate Bill 690.
“I’m one of thousands of people who have already settled quietly, and you don’t hear about those people because you know they don’t talk about it publicly,” Atchley said, noting a confidentiality agreement limits what she can say.
Gytahnna Loffgren, co-owner of Element Electric in Dixon, described a similar experience after her family’s 20-year-old electrical and solar installation business was sued in May. She said the plaintiff was not a customer and clicked through the Solano County contractor’s website more than 17 times, with the complaint seeking $5,000 per alleged violation and nearly $200,000 in damages…