ANOTHER COURT HOLDS SMS NOT CALLS!: W.D Missouri Court Joins New Majority In Holding SMS Are Not “Telephone Calls” For TCPA DNC Purposes

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Yet another court has now held SMS are not telephone calls under the TCPA’s DNC rules– and this time its a court right in the center of the nation.

In Rush v. Selectquote Insurance, 2026 WL 2495598 (W.D. Mo July 30, 2026) the court concluded SMS messages are not calls for purposes of the TCPA’s DNC rules based on the plain language of the statute.

Here’s the key portion of the analysis:

Here, the plain text of § 227(c)(5) states the private right of action applies only to “telephone calls.” Congress did not define
the term “telephone calls” within the TCPA. In 1991, “a telephone was ‘an instrument for reproducing sounds at a distance.’
” Steidinger v. Blackstone Med. Servs., 2026 WL 2028517 at *2 (7th Cir. July 14, 2026), quoting Webster’s Ninth New
Collegiate Dictionary (1991). “[T]he 1990 edition of Webster’s Dictionary defined ‘call’ as ‘the act of calling on the telephone,’
and defined ‘telephone’ as ‘an instrument for reproducing sounds at a distance.’ ” Richards v. Shein Distrib. Corp., 2026
WL 847584, at *2 (S.D. Ind. 2026), quoting Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary (1990). Text messages do not
“reproduce[e] sounds at a distance.” Text messaging is not an “act of calling on the telephone.” The plain and ordinary meaning
of telephone calls in § 227(c)(5) does not include text messages.

Since SMS are not “sounds” reproduced at a distance they are not telephone calls. And the court rejected Plaintiff’s policy and FCC based arguments to the contrary.

The W.D. Missouri is now the 13th federal district (including the entire 7th circuit footprint) to conclude SMS messages are not telephone calls for purposes of the TCPA’s DNC rules. In such districts a caller cannot be sued for unsolicited SMS messages marketing to consumers on the DNC list.

Yet a very real split of authority still remains as 14 other district courts (and possible the the 9th circuit court of appeals) has held otherwise.

Reach out to Troutman Amin, LLP if you’d like a complete listing of the applicable rulings (or just search TCPAWorld for the pertinent articles).

This issue is likely headed for the U.S. Supreme Court– and we will keep an eye on it.

And you should keep an eye on Ep. 47 of the Deserve to Win Podcast– this is the one where Tori Guidry becomes a partner at Troutman Amin, LLP live on the air 🙂

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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