The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), codified at 47 U.S.C. § 227, is a federal law enacted in 1991 that restricts telemarketing calls, auto-dialed calls, prerecorded calls, text messages, and unsolicited fax transmissions. It prohibits companies from using an automatic telephone dialing system to contact cell phones without prior express written consent, and prohibits calling numbers registered on the National Do Not Call Registry. The TCPA gives private individuals — not just government regulators — the right to sue for statutory damages of $500 to $1,500 per violation, with no requirement to prove actual financial harm.

A TCPA violation occurs when a company: (1) uses an autodialer or prerecorded message to call or text a cell phone without prior express written consent; (2) calls a number registered on the national do not call list without an applicable exemption; (3) continues to call or text after the recipient has opted out or revoked consent; (4) sends unsolicited fax advertisements; or (5) makes prerecorded calls to residential landlines for commercial purposes without consent. Each individual call or text message is counted as a separate violation — so a company that sent you 50 spam texts has committed 50 separate violations, each worth up to $1,500.

The National Do Not Call Registry is a free database maintained by the Federal Trade Commission at donotcall.gov that allows consumers to opt out of most telemarketing calls. Once your number has been on the registry for 31 days, most for-profit telemarketers are prohibited from calling it. Exemptions exist for political organizations, charities, survey companies, and businesses with whom you have an existing relationship — but the exemptions are narrower than companies typically claim. If a covered telemarketer calls your registered number more than once in a 12-month period, you have a claim worth up to $1,500 per call under the TCPA.

No. This is one of the most important features of the TCPA. Unlike most civil claims, you do not need to show actual financial harm to recover statutory damages. The law presumes that receiving illegal calls and texts is itself a harm — to your privacy, your time, and your use of your phone. This means that even a single unsolicited robocall or spam text entitles you to statutory damages of $500, or $1,500 if the violation was willful, without any further proof of loss.

Federal TCPA claims are subject to a four-year statute of limitations under 28 U.S.C. § 1658, running from the date of each violation. This means calls and texts going back four years may be actionable — which can significantly increase the total damages in cases involving a pattern of violations. California state-law claims may be subject to different timeframes. Even with a four-year window, companies purge call records over time, making early action important to building the most complete record of violations.

Potentially yes. Providing your phone number to a company does not automatically constitute TCPA consent for autodialed or prerecorded calls. Valid consent under the TCPA must be clear, written, and specifically authorize automated contact. Additionally, even if you once provided valid consent, you have the right to revoke it at any time — by replying STOP to a text, by verbal request, or in writing. Once consent is revoked, any subsequent automated contact is a violation. If a company argues you consented, the burden is on them to produce written proof that meets the TCPA’s standards.

An individual TCPA claim pursues damages for the calls or texts you personally received — which can be substantial when a company contacted you repeatedly. A class action groups together many consumers who received the same illegal calls or texts from the same company, allowing them to collectively hold the violator accountable for the full scope of its conduct. Class actions often result in larger aggregate recoveries and injunctive relief that stops the illegal practices entirely. Checkmate Law evaluates whether your situation is better suited for an individual claim or class action as part of the free case review.

Nothing upfront. Checkmate Law takes TCPA cases on a contingency fee basis — you pay no legal fees unless we recover compensation for you. In many TCPA cases, the company is also required to pay attorney’s fees if you prevail. Because the TCPA’s statutory damages are fixed by law, you know going in exactly what each violation is worth. There is no financial risk to finding out whether you have a claim.