Telephone Consumer Protection Act FAQs
Every illegal robocall or spam text to your cell phone is worth $500 under federal law, and up to $1,500 if the caller knew the call was illegal. That law is the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and it is the reason the calls you decline and the texts you delete are worth keeping a record of.
Attorney Ron Weiss has brought TCPA claims for Michigan and Ohio consumers alongside his telemarketer and debt collector harassment work for more than 25 years, and the answers below cover what the law prohibits, what counts as consent, how the Do Not Call Registry fits in, and what a claim is worth.
If you have additional questions, or need more specific advice, contact our firm to schedule a free consultation.
What is the TCPA?
TCPA stands for the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, a federal law found at 47 U.S.C. § 227 that restricts automated calls, prerecorded and artificial-voice messages, and unsolicited text messages, particularly to cell phones.
Congress passed it in 1991 to stop the flood of automated telemarketing, and it has been expanded since to cover text messages and the National Do Not Call Registry. The law gives consumers the right to sue the company that made the call, and it sets a fixed dollar amount per violation, so a consumer does not have to prove a financial loss to recover.
What kinds of calls and texts does the TCPA prohibit?
The law prohibits three main categories of contact.
First, it prohibits calls or texts to a cell phone made with an automatic telephone dialing system or with an artificial or prerecorded voice unless the recipient gave prior express consent, and for marketing messages that consent must be in writing.
Second, it prohibits prerecorded telemarketing calls to residential landlines without consent.
Third, it prohibits telemarketing calls to a number listed on the National Do Not Call Registry. A voice generated by artificial intelligence counts as an artificial voice, and a ringless voicemail that drops a message into your mailbox without ringing the phone counts as a call.
Does the TCPA apply to text messages?
Yes.
Courts and the Federal Communications Commission treat a text message as a call under the TCPA, so an automated marketing text sent to a cell phone without consent is a violation in the same way an automated call is. Each unwanted text is a separate violation, which is why unwanted and unauthorized text messages are now the most common basis for TCPA claims. Keep every text, including the sender's number and the date and time it arrived.
Does the TCPA still apply if the caller was not using an autodialer?
It can.
In 2021 the United States Supreme Court held in Facebook v. Duguid that a system is an autodialer under the TCPA only if it uses a random or sequential number generator, which narrowed the claims that can be brought for autodialed calls. That decision did not change the rules for prerecorded or artificial-voice messages, which are prohibited without consent regardless of how the call was placed, or the rules for calls to numbers on the Do Not Call Registry. Most claims we see today involve a prerecorded message or a text campaign, and the risks of misdirected prerecorded messages fall on the caller even when the message was meant for someone else.
What if I gave consent?
Consent is a defense, so the first question in any claim is whether you agreed to receive the calls and what exactly you agreed to.
Consent given to one company does not transfer to another, consent to informational messages is not consent to marketing, and consent given before a number was reassigned to you does not cover calls to you.
Consent can also be revoked by any reasonable method, such as replying "stop" to a text, asking the caller to stop, or using a website or number the caller provided, and the caller must honor the request within ten business days. In September 2026 the FCC adopted new revocation rules that will let a caller designate one exclusive method for opting out once the rules take effect, so keep a record of how and when you asked the calls to stop, and use the opt-out method the caller offers whenever one is stated.
Does the TCPA cover calls to numbers on the Do Not Call Registry?
Yes.
A consumer who receives more than one telemarketing call in a 12-month period from the same company, or on its behalf, after listing a number on the National Do Not Call Registry can sue under the TCPA. The Do Not Call rules apply to marketing calls regardless of whether an autodialer or a prerecorded voice was used, so they reach live telemarketing calls that the other provisions do not. You can register a number and check its status at donotcall.gov, and the registration does not expire.
What am I entitled to if I have a successful TCPA case?
The TCPA provides $500 for each violation, and a court may increase that to as much as $1,500 per violation if the caller acted willfully or knowingly.
Each call or text is a separate violation, so a consumer who received 30 illegal texts has a claim for $15,000 before any increase. The law also allows a court to order the caller to stop. Because the amounts are fixed by statute, you do not need to prove that the calls cost you money, but you do need to prove that the calls happened, which is why documentation decides most cases.
Is there a time limit for bringing a TCPA case?
Yes. A TCPA claim must be filed within four years of the violation, which is longer than most consumer protection deadlines.
The date of each violation is the date of each call or text, so in a campaign that ran for months, the oldest messages can fall outside the deadline while the newer ones remain. Other legal theories with shorter deadlines may apply to the same conduct, so contact our office as soon as the calls begin rather than waiting until they stop.
How do I document calls and texts to my cell phone?
Save everything. Keep every voicemail, take screenshots of every text and of your call log showing the number, date, and time, and keep the phone bills that list incoming calls.
Do not block the number until you have captured the evidence, because blocking can erase the record. If you answer a call, note what the recording or caller said and whether you were given a way to opt out. A recording of the call is strong evidence, and both Michigan and Ohio allow a participant in a call to record it, but a person receiving calls in another state should check that state's law first.
Can a TCPA claim be brought as a class action?
Yes, and TCPA claims are among the most common consumer class actions, because an automated campaign sends the same illegal message to thousands of people at once.
A class action can recover statutory damages for the whole class, and it is often the only practical way to stop a large campaign. Whether a claim is best brought individually or as a class depends on the size of the campaign and the strength of the consent defense, and we discuss the options with each client.
When the robocalls come from a debt collector, a second claim may exist under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which separately limits when and how often a collector may call.
What should I do if I believe my rights were violated?
Call or email our office for a free consultation. An attorney who handles TCPA claims regularly can identify the company behind the calls, which is often hidden behind a spoofed number or a lead generator, and can evaluate the consent defense before the caller raises it.
The statutory damages make these claims worth pursuing even for a modest number of calls, and a caller that knows it faces exposure of $500 to $1,500 per message is more likely to resolve the claim. Ronald S. Weiss, Attorney & Counselor handles TCPA claims for consumers throughout Michigan and Ohio and will discuss your situation by phone no matter where in either state you live.