On 14 July, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that text messages are not “telephone calls” under Section 227(c)(5) of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
The court affirmed the dismissal of a consolidated class action against a medical services provider accused of sending marketing texts and calls to consumers who had opted out or registered with the National Do-Not-Call Registry.
Section 227(c)(5) allows consumers who receive more than one telephone call within a 12-month period in violation of Federal Communications Commission regulations to seek injunctive relief and statutory damages.
The Seventh Circuit concluded that this provision does not authorise claims based on unwanted text messages, drawing on several lines of reasoning to support its position.
The court relied on the statute’s original meaning, determining that the ordinary meaning of “telephone call” when Congress enacted the TCPA in 1991 referred to sound-based communications only.
The court also distinguished calls from messages, noting that other provisions define “telephone solicitation” as a telephone call or message, while Section 227(c)(5) refers only to telephone calls.
This difference in language, the court reasoned, supported a narrower private right of action that does not reach text-based marketing communications.
The court declined to follow the FCC’s broader interpretation, explaining that the agency’s regulations extending Do-Not-Call protections to texts were issued under provisions addressing “telephone solicitations,” not the narrower language found in Section 227(c)(5).
The Seventh Circuit also distinguished a Ninth Circuit decision from January 2026 that reached the opposite conclusion, noting that ruling interpreted Section 227(b), which contains different language and a broader private right of action.
The two decisions therefore create tension over how the TCPA treats text messages, but do not squarely interpret the same statutory provision, leaving the legal landscape unsettled.
For businesses operating in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, the ruling narrows one avenue of TCPA class action exposure specifically related to marketing texts sent in violation of Do-Not-Call rules.
However, the Seventh Circuit’s reasoning does not eliminate potential claims under Section 227(b), state telemarketing statutes, or other provisions governing text-message marketing campaigns.
Given the clear split between the Seventh and Ninth Circuit, legal observers are watching closely to see whether the Supreme Court moves to resolve the issue.