SMOKING: R.J. Reynolds Walks Away from TCPA Class Action As First Carolina Court Finds SMS Does Not Equal Calls

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really really need to update this map!

And like that the tide has officially turned,

In Card v. R.J. Reynolds, 2026 WL 2673068 (M.D.N.C. Sept. 3, 2026) tobacco king R.J. Reynolds walked away from a robotext class action under the TCPA with a motion to dismiss victory.

But the ruling has a wider symbolic impact– the M.D.N.C. just became the 16th different federal district court to hold text messages are not subject to the TCPA’s DNC protections. This compares to 15 holding the opposite.

That means the MAJORITY RULE is now that SMS messages are not calls under the TCPA!

Holy smokes! *snickers*

That SMS would not be actionable under the TCPA’s DNC rules in more than half the nations’ district cots would have been unthinkable just a year ago. But now with the Supreme Court giving district courts the discretion to ignore FCC rulings following the death of Hobbs Act deference we are in a whole new world!

We will keep an eye on all of this, of course.

And you should keep an eye on Deserve to Win 50 with Gayla Huber– we discuss all the biggest TCPA news you need to know RIGHT now to stay ahead of the curve.

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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