In Standard Mut. Ins. Co. v. Lay, — N.E.2d —-, 2013 IL 114617, 2013 WL 2253203 (Ill. 2013), the Illinois Supreme Court held that the $500 penalty available under the TCPA was not punitive and, accordingly, was not precluded from insurability.
Also, Congress intended the $500 liquidated damages available under the TCPA to be, at least in part, an incentive for private parties to enforce the statute. This added incentive is necessary because the actual losses associated with individual violations of the TCPA are small. Whether we view the $500 statutory award as a liquidated sum for actual harm, or as an incentive for aggrieved parties to enforce the statute, or both, the $500 fixed amount clearly serves more than purely punitive or deterrent goals. Penzer v. Transportation Insurance Co., 545 F.3d 1303, 1311 (11th Cir.2008); Universal Underwriters, 401 F.3d at 881; Melrose Hotel Co. v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Co., 432 F.Supp.2d 488, 509 & n. 10 (E.D.Pa.2006), aff’d sub nom. Subclass 2 v. Melrose Hotel Co., 503 F.3d 339 (3d Cir.2007); Motorists Mutual Insurance Co. v. Dandy–Jim, Inc., 182 Ohio App.3d 311, 912 N.E.2d 659, 667 (Ohio Ct.App.2009); Terra Nova Insurance, 869 N.E.2d at 576. ¶ [19][20] ¶ 33 Further, the fact that Congress provided for treble damages separate from the $500 liquidated damages indicates that the liquidated damages serve additional goals than deterrence and punishment and were not designed to be punitive damages. Penzer, 545 F.3d at 1311; Universal Underwriters, 401 F.3d at 881. We observe that the possible imposition of treble damages does not make the TCPA a penal statute. Rather, this possible penalty “is but one part of the regulatory scheme, intended as a supplemental aid to enforcement rather than as a punitive measure.” Association for Childbirth, 88 Ill.2d at 288, 58 Ill.Dec. 761, 430 N.E.2d 1012 (explaining section 7 of Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act (815 ILCS 505/7 (West 2010))). We hold that the TCPA is a remedial and not a punitive statute, and that the $500 liquidated damages per violation are not punitive damages. ¶ We disagree with decisions concluding that the TCPA-prescribed damages of $500 per violation constitute penal or punitive damages. See US Fax Law Center, Inc. v. iHire, Inc., 362 F.Supp.2d 1248, 1253 (D.Colo.2005), aff’d, 476 F.3d 1112 (10th Cir.2007); Kruse v. McKenna, 178 P.3d 1198, 1201 (Colo.2008) (en banc); Kaplan v. Democrat & Chronicle, 266 A.D.2d 848, 698 N.Y.S.2d 799, 800 (App.Div.1999) (mem.) Rather, we believe that the cases to which we have cited ascertained the true intent of Congress in enacting the TCPA. See State Bank of Cherry v. CGB Enterprises, Inc., 2013 IL 113836, ¶ 53, 368 Ill.Dec. 503, 984 N.E.2d 449 (explaining that if the federal courts are split on how they construe a federal statute, then the importance of uniformity recedes and this court will follow the line of cases it believes to be properly decided).