Hooters waitress Dominica Henderson helps Christopher Geoghegan (from left), Terry Killick and Darius Hashemi at the Augusta restaurant on Washington Road. Hooters recently lost a suit over a fax ad campaign. CHRIS THELEN/STAFF

However, the lead attorney for the 1,321 people who received the unsolicited faxes said the legal team might pursue more class-action cases against other large companies.

``We've got a list of big businesses we're about to pull the trigger on,'' said Harry Revell, attorney for Augusta-based Burnside Wall Daniel Ellison & Revell.

The faxes, distributed in 1995 by the now-defunct Value-Fax of Augusta, featured coupons for Hooters' Augusta restaurant and other small area businesses such as WRDW-AM (1480) and restaurant La Maison on Telfair Street.

Although they will not be the target of litigation, some of those who placed ads on the faxes are upset the legal responsibility for the campaign was placed on Hooters, instead of Value-Fax.

``I'm appalled,'' said Heinz Sowinski, the head chef and owner of La Maison. ``Someone else is always held accountable for someone else's wrongdoing.''

Plaintiffs sued Hooters under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991. Based on court interpretations of the statute, advertisers and marketing agents can be held liable for sending unsolicited faxes.

Unlike telemarketing laws that apply to other forms of communication, the 1991 law does not require consumers to tell fax-based telemarketers that they do not wish to receive the solicitations prior to suing.

In fact, local attorney Sam Nicholson, the lead plaintiff in the case, never contacted Value-Fax to have the faxes stopped.

``There was no harm done (to him),'' Mr. Sowinski said. ``If you don't want (a fax), you should tell (the sender) you don't want it.''

Charleston, S.C., resident Rob Biggerstaff routinely sues telemarketers who ``invade'' his home. By his estimates, he has accrued as much as $100,000 from out-of-court settlements stemming from his pro se lawsuits.

Mr. Biggerstaff said he decided to start suing after seeing his wheelchair-bound grandfather struggle to answer his phone only to discover a telemarketer on the other end.

Mr. Biggerstaff, an engineer, calls the mass transmission of faxes ``advertising by theft'' because the person paying for the unsolicited advertisement is the person receiving it.

``Even if it's only 10 cents a page, it's costing American businesses $100 million a year, 10 cents at a time,'' he said.

A Federal Communications Commission spokesman said the agency does not keep figures on unsolicited fax transmissions.

Not many small businesses are aware of laws pertaining to fax marketing, said Jackie Moore, area director of the University of Georgia's Small Business Development Center in Augusta. Ms. Moore, a small business adviser, said even she was unaware.

``I could imagine myself as recommending this as an inexpensive way of promoting your business,'' she said. ``I'll be much more careful.''

She said she plans to include information on the law in the agency's upcoming marketing classes and workshops.

Reach Eric Williamson at (706) 828-3904.