You can sue over unwanted robocalls and spam texts in many situations under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), a federal law that sets statutory damages of $500 per violation and up to $1,500 when the violation was willful or knowing. The most common claims involve prerecorded or artificial-voice calls made without consent, autodialed calls and texts to cell phones, repeated telemarketing to numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry, and calls that continued after you told the company to stop. Debt collection calls can raise separate claims under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Key points
- The TCPA lets individuals sue in court and sets damages of $500 per violation, up to $1,500 per violation if the court finds it willful or knowing.
- Telemarketing robocalls with a prerecorded or artificial voice generally require your prior express written consent.
- A Do Not Call claim requires more than one telemarketing call or text within 12 months from or on behalf of the same company to a registered number.
- You can revoke consent by any reasonable means, and callers must honor the request within 10 business days under current FCC rules.
- Save screenshots, call logs and voicemails, and write down what the caller said; you need to identify the company behind the calls.
- Courts generally apply a four-year deadline to TCPA claims; FDCPA claims must be filed within one year.
What the TCPA covers
Congress passed the TCPA in 1991. It is codified at 47 U.S.C. § 227, and the Federal Communications Commission writes the rules that carry it out. The law has two main parts that matter for consumers.
Robocalls and autodialed calls
The first part restricts calls made with an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice:
- Calls to cell phones using an autodialer or a prerecorded or artificial voice require the called party's prior express consent, except for emergencies and a few exempted categories.
- If the call is telemarketing (selling goods or services), FCC rules require prior express written consent, meaning a signed agreement, which can be electronic, that clearly authorizes that seller to send marketing robocalls or texts to your number.
- Prerecorded telemarketing calls to residential landlines also require prior express written consent.
In 2021 the Supreme Court narrowed what counts as an autodialer. In Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid, the Court held that equipment qualifies only if it can store or produce numbers using a random or sequential number generator. Many modern texting platforms that dial from a customer list fall outside that definition. The ruling did not affect the separate ban on prerecorded and artificial-voice calls, and in 2024 the FCC confirmed that calls using AI-generated voices count as artificial-voice calls under the TCPA.
Do Not Call rules
The second part protects people who do not want telemarketing calls. The FTC runs the National Do Not Call Registry, and the FCC's rules make it unlawful for most telemarketers to call a number on the registry. Registration is free and does not expire. FCC rules also:
- Ban telemarketing calls to residences before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. local time
- Require companies to keep their own internal do-not-call lists and honor requests to stop
- Require telemarketers to identify themselves and the seller they are calling for
The Do Not Call rules have exceptions. A company with an established business relationship may call for a limited time after a purchase or inquiry. Calls from tax-exempt nonprofits, political calls and surveys that do not sell anything are generally outside the telemarketing rules. Calls where you gave written permission are also allowed.
When you can sue
The TCPA creates two private rights of action, which work a little differently.
| Claim | What you generally need to show | Statutory damages |
|---|---|---|
| Robocall or autodialer claim | A prerecorded or artificial-voice call (or an autodialed call or text to a cell phone) without the required consent | $500 per call, up to $1,500 if willful or knowing |
| Do Not Call claim | More than one telemarketing call within 12 months by or on behalf of the same entity to a number on the registry, or after you asked to be placed on its internal list | Up to $500 per violation, up to $1,500 if willful or knowing |
The per-violation structure is what makes TCPA claims significant. Ten unlawful robocalls can mean $5,000 in statutory damages before any increase for willfulness. Courts look closely at whether each call was a separate violation.
Who you can sue
You can sue the company that placed the calls, and often the company whose products were being sold. Sellers frequently hire lead generators and call centers, and courts can hold the seller responsible for calls made on its behalf under agency principles. Identifying the real company is often the hardest part of a case, especially with spoofed caller ID. Spoofed calls that impersonate banks, government agencies or tech support are often part of a fraud, and people who lost money may also have rights as crime and fraud victims. Some people learn who is behind the calls by accepting a call and asking for the company's name, website or callback number.
Consent disputes
Most TCPA cases are fought over consent. Companies often claim you agreed to calls by entering your number on a website, signing up for a contest or buying a product. A few points help:
- Consent to calls from one company is not consent from every company. In January 2025 the Eleventh Circuit struck down an FCC rule that would have required one-to-one consent for each seller, so courts now look at what the consent language actually said and whether it covered the caller.
- Giving your number for one purpose, such as a delivery update, is not written consent to marketing.
- You can revoke consent at any time by any reasonable means, including replying "stop" to a text or saying so on a call. Under FCC rules effective April 11, 2025, callers must honor revocation requests within a reasonable time not exceeding 10 business days.
- Calls to a reassigned number meant for someone else can still violate the TCPA, because the consent of the prior owner does not carry over to you.
Spam texts
Texts raise their own questions. In Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez (2016), the Supreme Court said it was undisputed that a text message to a cell phone qualifies as a call under the TCPA's autodialer provision. In December 2023 the FCC confirmed that its Do Not Call rules apply to marketing texts.
The legal ground has shifted since then. In June 2025 the Supreme Court held in McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates v. McKesson Corp. that federal district courts are not bound by the FCC's interpretation of the TCPA in private lawsuits. Since that ruling, some courts have held that text messages are not "telephone calls" under the Do Not Call damages provision, while others have reached the opposite result. If your claim is based only on marketing texts to a registered number, a lawyer can tell you how courts in your area have ruled. For a closer look at how text claims are evaluated, see this guide to spam text message lawsuits.
State robocall laws
Many states have their own telemarketing laws, sometimes called mini-TCPAs. Florida and Oklahoma, for example, have laws that create private lawsuits over certain automated marketing calls and texts. Some states keep their own do-not-call lists or set narrower calling hours. State laws can add claims or remedies the federal law does not, and they change often.
Debt collection calls and the FDCPA
Calls from debt collectors can be covered by both the TCPA and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). The FDCPA applies mainly to third-party collectors and debt buyers, not to original creditors collecting their own accounts. It prohibits harassment, false statements and unfair practices, such as:
- Calling repeatedly or continuously with intent to annoy or harass
- Calling at inconvenient times, generally before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.
- Calling you at work after being told your employer prohibits it
- Discussing your debt with family, neighbors or coworkers
- Threatening arrest or legal action that is not intended or allowed
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Regulation F presumes a collector has violated the call-frequency rule if it calls more than seven times within seven consecutive days about a debt, or within seven days after a phone conversation about that debt. An individual can recover actual damages, statutory damages of up to $1,000 per lawsuit, and attorney's fees. FDCPA claims must be filed within one year of the violation.
Unlike the FDCPA, the TCPA does not have a provision requiring the losing caller to pay your attorney's fees. That is one reason TCPA cases are often brought as class actions or handled on contingency.
Building a case
Evidence matters because the defendant will usually have its own call records. Steps that help:
- Take screenshots of your call log and every text, showing the number, date and time.
- Save voicemails, which often prove a prerecorded voice.
- Write down what callers said, including company names, products and callback numbers.
- Keep proof of when you registered your number on the Do Not Call Registry.
- Note every time you asked a caller to stop, and how.
- Do not engage in a way that could look like consent, such as agreeing to receive further calls.
For a breakdown of how per-call damages and willfulness increases are calculated, see this explanation of TCPA statutory damages.
Filing a complaint with the FTC or FCC helps regulators identify patterns but does not get you money. A private lawsuit, an individual demand or a class action is how consumers recover damages.
Class actions
When a company sends the same unlawful calls or texts to thousands of people, claims are often brought as a class action. Settlements in large TCPA class actions can reach millions of dollars in total, but the amount each class member receives depends on how many people file claims. Individual claims may recover more per call but involve more effort. A lawyer can explain whether your situation fits a pending class case or an individual claim.
Deadlines
The TCPA does not contain its own statute of limitations, and courts generally apply the four-year federal catch-all period to private claims. That means older calls can still support a claim. FDCPA claims must be brought within one year. State law claims have their own deadlines. Laws in this area are changing quickly, and a lawyer licensed in your state should confirm which deadlines apply to your calls.
Related guides
Robocalls are often the first step in fraud. If a scam caller took money or personal information, our crime victims guide explains victim rights and compensation programs, and our nursing home abuse guide covers financial exploitation of older adults in care. For how civil claims work more broadly, see our personal injury guide.
TCPA compliance is also a real issue for business owners. Insurance agencies and other companies that buy leads or run outbound calling programs can carry TCPA exposure that buyers examine during due diligence, as covered in our guides to selling an insurance agency and selling a small business.
