In May, a jury decided that the Spyware NSO manufacturer has to pay $ 167 million in Whatsapp compensation for a 2019 hacking campaign aimed at more than 1,400 people.
Naming the compensation “outrageous”, “blatant illegal” and “unconstitutionally excessive”, the NSO group now wants the judge to oversee the case to reduce the amount or order a new trial.
On Thursday, the company submitted a proposal for a new trial or a “remittitur”, which is a procedure that allows a court to reduce an excessive verdict.
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The deposit was first reported by legal news Law360 and Thief.
During the court filing, the lawyers of the NSO Group stated that the “outrageous award of punishment exceeds the maximum award for legal criminal compensation in this case with many size classes”. Lawyers claimed that the amount ordered in damages – $ 167 million – violates the limits that the jury should not compensate “greater than four times compensatory allowances”, which was $ 444,719 in this case.
Lawyers have also argued that the jury award is “illegal because it reflects the inappropriate desire to bankrupt the NSO from general hostility to its business activities in addition to the limited behavior for which the compensation could be awarded in this case”.
WhatsApp Margarita Franklin spokesman told TechCrunch in a statement that Whatsapp will continue to fight for the case.
“In the last six years, the NSO has tried to avoid accountability in every turn. This is another expected attempt to claim impunity by responding to a strong message from the US citizens’ jury that decide to punish the NSO for the 2019 illegal attack.” “We will respond to the court as we continue to follow a permanent order against the NSO to prevent this spyware from targeting whatsapp and our users again.”
The NSO Group also told the court that the amount granted in compensation “exceeds the NSO’s ability to pay” and “reflects an inappropriate desire to punish the NSO”.
During the trial, the NSO group has already argued that it was financially close to close.
