In May, the ju judge determined that the Spyware Maker NSO Group had to pay WhatsApp $167 million in damages for a 2019 hacking campaign targeting more than 1,400 people.
Calling control “outrageous”, “blatantly illegal” or “unconstitutionally overreaching”, NSO groups want a judge who will oversee whether to reduce the amount or order a new trial.
On Thursday, the company filed a new trial or “remittance” claim. This is a procedure that allows the court to reduce excessive verdicts.
inquiry
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This filing was first reported by Law360 and Mlex Legal News Outlets.
In a court application, an attorney for the NSO group said, “In this case, it exceeds many orders of magnitude of legal punitive damages awards.” The lawyers alleged that the amount ordered in punitive damages ($167 million) violated the restrictions that the ju judges must not grant “more than four times the compensation damages.” In this case, it was $444,719.
The lawyer also argued that the ju judge award was “illegal because in this case it reflects an inappropriate desire to destroy the NSO out of general hostility other than the limited conduct that would be awarded punitive damages.
WhatsApp spokesman Margarita Franklin told TechCrunch in a statement that WhatsApp will continue to fight the cases.
“For the past six years, NSOs have tried to avoid accountability at every turn. This is another expected attempt to assert immunity in response to a strong message from the US citizen ju-choice who decided to punish the NSO for the 2019 illegal attacks on American companies and their users,” Franklin said. “We will respond to the court as this spyware company continues to pursue a permanent injunction against the NSO to prevent it from targeting WhatsApp and users again.”
The NSO Group also said it submitted in court applications that the amount given in damages “is significantly greater than the NSO's ability to pay” and “reflects an inappropriate desire to punish the NSO.”
During the trial, the NSO group already claimed it was in a financially disastrous strait.