Skechers Loses Motion to Dismiss Misleading Spam Email Lawsuit

A U.S. District Court denied Skechers' motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging misleading spam emails, ruling plaintiffs have standing and that Washington's CEMA, regarding deceptive subject lines, is not preempted by federal CAN-SPAM, allowing the case to proceed.

Skechers filed an activity to reject, arguing that the complainants’ cause of action under Washington’s Commercial Electronic Mail Act (” CEMA”) is preempted by the government Controlling the Attack of Non-Solicited Porn and Marketing (” CAN-SPAM”) Act. Court Estudillo located that complainants have Article III standing because they developed a concrete injury– the alleged CEMA offense of sending misleading emails “is ‘always an allegation’ that Offender created Plaintiff ‘the kind of concrete injury that the Washington Legislature looked for to stop in passing CEMA.'”.

On Tuesday, May 19, 2026, United State District Court David G. Estudillo denied Skechers United States’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit declaring that the business illegally blew up customers with misleading spam e-mails.

Court’s Reasoning on CEMA & Preemption

Court Estudillo additionally held that CEMA’s subject-line arrangement is a matter that “falls directly within this area booked to the States; it enforces obligation for launching (within Washington or to one of its citizens) a ‘commercial e-mail message’ that’ [c] ontains deceptive or incorrect information in the subject line.” Court Estudillo declined Skechers’s debate that CEMA is not regular with, and is preempted, by government regulation. Skechers pointed to a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals choice and a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals choice to argue that CEMA is preempted by government regulation. Judge Estudillo, however, mentioned Western Area of Washington situations that identified both choices pointed out by Skechers, and even more ruled that the plaintiffs did not need to affirm the aspects of a conventional fraudulence or deceit case to move on in their suit.

Stephen Liss and Boni Melchor submitted their claim versus Skechers in the U.S. District Court, Western Area of Washington. Their suit declares that Skechers sent consumers spam e-mails with deceptive subject lines creating an incorrect sense of urgency.