WOW: Another Court Holds Texts Are Not Covered by the TCPA’s DNC Rules

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So this whole “texts aren’t calls” thing is really catching on.

Another court just found SMS messages do not qualify as calls for DNC purposes. In the Middle District of Florida on Friday a court ruled:

“Although some judges differ, I agree with and adopt Judge Winser’s opinion that “the statutory text here is clear, and a text message is not a ‘telephone call.’ ” Da-vis, 2025 WL 2491195 at *1. In addition to the fact that in common American English usage, a “telephone call” and a “text message” are separate and distinct forms of communication, the term “text message” appears elsewhere in the TCPA and related amendments, an appearance that confirms Congress understood the pertinent distinction and legislated mindful of the distinction. See Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, Pub. L. No. 115 141, div. P, § 503(a) (codified at 47 U.S.C. §§ 227(e)(8)(A)–(B)) (distinguishing between “a call made using a voice service” and “a text message sent using a text messaging service”). “[W]hen Congress uses different terms, we expect that they hold different meanings, especially when the same mean-ing would render one of the terms superfluous.” Fernandez v. Seaboard Marine Ltd., 135 F.4th 939, 958 (11th Cir. 2025) (citing Pulsifer v. United States, 601 U.S. 124, 149 (2024)). The omission of “text message” from paragraph 227(c)(5) confirms that the provision applies only to a “telephone call.”

Wow!

The decision is Sayed v. Naturopathica Holistic Health, 2025 WL 2997759 (M.D. Fl. Oct 24, 2025) and is now the THIRD case to so hold.

Of course there are an equal number of cases holding otherwise. Hahaha.

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What is most fascinating here is there is a large wave of SMS revocation cases hitting the dockets right now– ALL of those are DNC cases. So this new line of decisions could really cut down on the biggest body of TCPA litigation out there right now.

Just fascinating.

Make sure you’re hiring counsel who is up to date on all of this. Troutman Amin, LLP rates rise January 1, 2026– retain the “Top TCPA Firm in the Nation” now, and save!

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Published by Eric "Czar" Troutman

The Czar of TCPAWorld Eric Troutman is one of the country’s prominent class action defense lawyers and is nationally recognized in Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) litigation and compliance. He has served as lead defense counsel in more than 70 national TCPA class actions and has litigated nearly a thousand individual TCPA cases in his role as national strategic litigation counsel for major banks and finance companies. He also helps industry participants build TCPA-compliant processes, policies, and systems. Eric has built a national litigation practice based upon deep experience, rigorous analysis and extraordinary responsiveness. Eric and his team feel equally at home litigating multibillion dollar telecommunications class actions in federal court as they do developing and executing national litigation strategies for institutions facing an onslaught of individual TCPA matters. They thrive in each of these roles – delivering consistently excellent results – while never losing sight of the client experience. While many firms now tout TCPA expertise, Eric has been there from the beginning. He built one of the country’s first TCPA-only defense teams and began serving as national TCPA counsel for his clients nearly a decade ago. This perspective allows him to swiftly develop the right litigation strategies for dealing with recurring problems, without wasting time on tactics that are bound to fail. Eric’s rich historical perspective and encyclopedic knowledge of the TCPA landscape also make him an invaluable resource to institutional compliance teams struggling to comply with the shifting regulatory landscape. No task is too small – or too big. Indeed, Eric and his team have helped build TCPA-compliant systems and processes for some of the largest and most complex corporate entities in the country. He commonly works with in-house compliance counsel to build and implement enterprise and business-line specific TCPA solutions, performs TCPA audits and drafts and reviews proposed TCPA policies and procedures. He and his team also have the technical expertise necessary to assist call centers seeking to develop TCPA-resistant call path architecture or to modify existing telephony and software integration to better insulate from potential TCPA exposure. Eric has built a reputation for thought leadership. An avid blogger and speaker, he has been at the forefront of the industry’s effort to push for clarity and a return to sanity for the TCPA for years. He was selected to advocate for the financial services industry on important TCPA issues before the Federal Communications Commission and co-authored the nation’s only comprehensive practice guide on TCPA defense. In his spare time, Eric leads defense teams representing banks and other financial services companies in consumer finance litigation matters. He has experience representing clients in UCC, TILA, RESPA FCRA, CCRA, CLRA, FDCPA, RFDCPA and FCCPA claims, as well as in fraud and bank operations issues.

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