TEXAS INSURANCE EXEMPTION APPLIED!: Senior Life Insurance Company Loses War But Wins Important Battle for Insurance Companies Sued Under Texas State Registration Rules

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With the Texas telemarketing registration rules recently amended to make them even more dangerous it is important for companies making marketing calls and texts– yes, even consented marketing calls and texts– to understand the ground rules.

Among the thicket of provisions in the Texas regulation are a series of exemptions for licensed businesses– including insurers. But do those exemptions mean what they say?

Well in Sutton v. Senior Life Insurance Company, 2026 WL 1611881 (W.D. Tex. June 1, 2026) the court applied the exemption of Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 302.053(3) to conclude the Defendant could not be liable for a registration violation:

Plaintiff also claims Defendant violated TBCC § 302.101 by calling her without a telephone solicitation registration certificate.
But the registration requirement “does not apply to … a person who holds a license issued under the Insurance Code if the
transaction is governed by that code.” 13 Defendant is licensed to sell life insurance under the insurance code, 14 and Plaintiff
pleads that the call advertised life insurance, 15 so Plaintiff cannot state a viable claim under § 302.101 based on a call from
Defendant or its agents.

Interesting, no?

Unfortunately for the defendant it lost on the remaining claims- including a TCPA claim for use of prerecorded calls. This portion of the ruling is particularly disappointing because the allegations of the complaint stated only that Defendant had hired “John Doe” to provide transfer leads– and it is unclear whether the court is suggesting a direct or vicarious liability theory is viable here. It seems neither should be. Tough loss on that issue for the defense.

But focusing on the positive– its nice to have a case in hand applying the Texas registration exemptions as written.

For more information on the Texas rules you can request a copy of the Troutman Amin, LLP one sheeter addressing recent amendments from last year:

COMPLIANCE ALERT!: Troutman Amin, LLP Issues One-Sheeter Compliance Alert Respecting New Texas Telemarketing Law

Chat soon.

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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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