NORTH CAROLINA (WWAY) – A federal court judge has ordered satellite-TV company Dish Network to pay $280 million for calling people who said they didn’t want to be bothered by telemarketers.

Attorney General Josh Stein today announced that North Carolina will receive a share of $18.6 million. North Carolina entered into the lawsuit against Dish Network with three other states and the federal government.

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In a ruling yesterday, the court found that Dish “caused millions and millions of violations of the Do Not Call Laws.” Telemarketers are barred from calling people who have joined federal or state do-not-call registries or who’ve asked companies to leave them alone.

“The do-not-call registry was created to prevent this type of aggressive telemarketing,” said Attorney General Stein in a news release. “My office will bring action against companies that try to circumvent these laws and contact people who have signed up for the registry.”

The Justice Department said the $280 million penalty was the biggest ever penalty for telemarketing violations.

In total, Dish Network will pay $168 million to the federal government and $112 million total to North Carolina, California, Illinois and Ohio. A portion of North Carolina’s $18.6 million will go to North Carolina schools.

Dish Network Corp. says it will appeal the ruling. It says the penalties are unfairly large and it’s being held responsible for telemarketing done by contractors, who in some cases hid what they were doing from Dish.

Click here to register your phone with the Do Not Call Registry.