Opinion ID: 3160389
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Deception of the intended audience

Text: Plaintiffs seeking damages for false advertising must “present evidence that a ‘significant portion’ of the consumer population was deceived.” Herman Miller, Inc. v. Palazzetti Imports & Exports, Inc., 270 F.3d 298, 323 (6th Cir. 2001) (citing Podiatric Physicians, 185 F.3d at 616). The e-mails and mailings appear to have deceived the Tri-Serve customers who received them. By August 2009, health insurers and workers’ compensation departments were billing Tri-Serve at Grubbs’ office, but clients were sending their payments to Sheakley, not Grubbs. Where false advertising cases have involved only mass mailings—albeit several orders of magnitude more than at issue here—this Court has treated the intended audience as the recipients of the letters. See Balance Dynamics Corp. v. Schmitt Indus., Inc., 204 F.3d 683, 686 (6th Cir. 2000) (successive mass mailings to 2,500 and 3,200 clients and potential clients); Podiatric Physicians, 185 F.3d at 611 (mass mailings of 6,000-8,000 letters). No. 15-3302 Grubbs, et al. v. Sheakley Group, et al. Page 21