Robocall Lawsuit: Find Out If Your Calls Are Worth $500 to $1,500 Each

How TCPA Damages Work: Money for Every Illegal Call

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act is a federal law passed in the early 1990s. Unlike most consumer laws, it sets a dollar amount for each violation. You do not have to prove the calls cost you money, because the law sets the damages for you.

There are two main ways a call or text breaks the law, and each has its own damages rule.

Ten illegal prerecorded calls can add up to $5,000 before any increase for willfulness. That math is why companies that ignore the rules often settle.

One honest caveat: the TCPA does not make the company pay your lawyer. Unlike some other consumer protection laws, it has no fee-shifting provision. Lawyers who take these cases on contingency are paid from what you recover, so the case has to be worth enough to justify the work.

Deadlines apply to every claim, and each call can carry its own clock. Older calls may still count, but waiting can cost you claims, so reach out sooner rather than later.

How to Sue a Robocaller: 4 Steps to Build a TCPA Case

1. 1. 1. 1. Document the calls. Write down every call and text: the date, time, number on your screen, and what was said. Screenshot your call history and save voicemails. A notebook works, and so does our printable call log on the build-a-case page.
         2. Identify the company. A lawsuit needs a defendant. Robocallers often hide behind spoofed numbers, so the number alone rarely proves who called. If you choose to answer, listen to the pitch and ask for the company’s legal name, website, and a callback number.
         3. Get a case review. Send us what you have. We look at whether you consented, whether your number was on the Do Not Call Registry, whether a recorded or artificial voice was used, and whether you asked them to stop.
         4. File a demand or lawsuit. If the case is worth bringing, a demand letter or lawsuit follows. Both federal and state courts can hear TCPA cases. Our step-by-step guide to suing a telemarketer walks through each stage.

Do You Have a Robocall Lawsuit? How We Evaluate TCPA Claims

We would rather tell you now that you do not have a case than waste your time. Here is how we sort them.

Signs of a Strong Robocall Case

• Prerecorded or AI-voice sales calls to your cell phone from a company you never gave your number to.
• Repeated sales calls to a number that was already on the Do Not Call Registry for at least a month before the calls started.
• A debt collector or lender calling your cell with a recorded message for someone else, and still calling after you said it was the wrong number.
• Calls or texts that kept coming after you clearly told the company to stop, including by replying STOP.
• A company name you can prove: an email, a website they gave you, a branded text, or a voicemail naming them.

When Robocalls Are Usually Not a Lawsuit

• A single call. The Do Not Call rule requires more than one call from the same company within a year.
• Calls you agreed to. If you gave a business written consent and never took it back, the calls are usually allowed.
• Political, charity, and survey calls to a Registry number. The Registry does not cover these, though other TCPA rules may still apply.
• Live, hand-dialed calls to a number not on the Registry. These generally fall outside the robocall rules. The Supreme Court has also narrowed what counts as an “autodialer,” so many systems that dial from stored lists are no longer covered by that rule.
• Callers no one can identify. That is not the end of the road, but it means documenting until the caller slips and gives a name.

Common Illegal Robocalls and Spam Texts

Most of what people send us falls into a few patterns. Extended car warranty pitches, Medicare and health plan offers, solar and home improvement calls, “cardholder services” credit card rate calls, and loan offers are classic telemarketing. Debt collection calls to the wrong person are a separate and often strong category, covered on our page about wrong-number robocalls. Spam texts have their own rules, explained in our guide to illegal spam texts.

You can browse every call type, with the rule that applies to each, in the robocall violations library.

TCPA Class Action Settlements vs. Your Own Robocall Lawsuit

Some companies have already been sued in class actions. If you are a class member, you may be able to file a claim without hiring anyone. Class payouts are usually much smaller than an individual case, though. In some well-known robocall settlements, each claimant received well under $100, far less than the $500 per call an individual can seek.

You may already be in a class without knowing it. Our page on how TCPA class actions work explains when to file a claim and when your own case is worth more. If you have a number but no company name, our guide to identifying who is calling you shows how to find out.

About the Robocall Lawyer Behind This Site

RobocallLawsuit.com is published by Laurence Banville, Esq., Managing Partner of Banville Law in Tarrytown, New York. He is admitted to practice in New York and the District of Columbia.

He started his career on the other side. From 2009 to 2010, he was an associate at Wilbraham, Lawler & Buba, doing insurance-defense products liability work, defending corporations and insurers. That is useful here: TCPA defendants are companies with lawyers and insurers, and he knows how they build a defense. Read his full background and bar admissions.

Banville Law may refer your matter to, or work as co-counsel with, another law firm. You will be told before any referral and may choose other counsel.

Get a Free Robocall Case Review

If you can name the company and provide a rough count of the calls, send us your details for a free review. If you only have numbers and no name yet, start a call log today and ask the next caller who they work for. Either way, do not agree to anything on the phone and never give out payment details.