In Washington, any misleading subject line is a per-se violation
Washington's Supreme Court held that the state's Commercial Electronic Mail Act bars any false or misleading information in a commercial email subject line, not only information about the message being commercial. A subject line reading 50 percent off today only, on a promotion that runs three days, is a violation. CEMA violations are per-se Consumer Protection Act violations.
Who this applies to
Any sender emailing an address they know or have reason to know belongs to a Washington resident. Your company does not need to be in Washington, which means practically every US consumer brand is exposed.
What to do
- Check every time-bound claim in a subject line against the promotion's real schedule before sending.
- Check discount claims against what the coupon code actually does at checkout.
- Keep a dated record of what each campaign claimed and what the offer really was. The record is the defence.
- Watch recurring evergreen flows hardest. A welcome flow that has said today only for eighteen months is the worst case.
What happens if you do not
Very real. Arnold and Porter counted over 100 CEMA suits in the twelve months after the ruling, against eight in the preceding two decades. Defendants include Wayfair, Dick's Sporting Goods, Williams-Sonoma, Cole Haan, L'Oréal USA and Nintendo of America, and the docket shows repeat plaintiffs, which is the signature of an organised plaintiffs' bar. Note that damages were cut in June 2026, see the related rule.
Sources
Related
History of this page
- Cross-referenced the June 2026 damages amendment.
- Added.