BATON ROUGE, La. — A judge has refused to dismiss 14 class-action lawsuits against 13 companies, accusing them of faxing unsolicited advertisements to Baton Rouge businesses.

In a written ruling handed down yesterday, U.S. District Judge James Brady rejected claims that the faxes are protected by free-speech rights. He ruled that federal and state laws banning companies from sending so-called junk faxes do not violate the First Amendment.

"The First Amendment does not protect all forms of speech from government restrictions," Brady wrote. "There is a distinction between noncommercial speech and commercial speech whereby the latter has only limited protection under the First Amendment."

Brady also said the fines of $500 to $1,500 per fax were not excessive.

At issue is the 13-year-old Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the Louisiana Unsolicited Telefascimile Messages Act. Both laws prohibit advertisers from faxing unsolicited advertisements unless the sender has prior permission or a pre-existing business relationship with the recipient.

The class-action lawsuits filed last year argue that junk faxes pass the cost of advertising to the consumer in the form of supplies and lost productivity. Congress once estimated the per-fax cost to be about 7 cents.

Among the companies being sued: Clear Channel Communications, Verizon Wireless, Satellink Paging and Computers Across America.

The ruling means the cases now will move toward trial.

Both the U.S. Department of Justice and the Louisiana Attorney General's Office have intervened in the junk fax cases to defend the federal and state laws.