STILL RED: E.D. Cal Magistrate Judge Refuses to Depart from SMS Are Calls Argument in TCPA Class Action

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For those of you following the “are text messages calls” debate in TCPAWorld we have another data point for you.

In Lewis v. Tenth Hall, 2026 WL 3152283 (E.D. Cal. Oct. 21, 2026) the court held SMS messages ARE calls following well-tread authority in the district.

As you can see from our map (above) courts throughout California and the entire 9th Circuit have held repeatedly texts are calls. This flows from a broad application of earlier appellate authority in the circuit concluding texts are calls under 227(b) and, as the Lewis court concluded, the same result should be reached as to 227(c).

Many courts have reached different conclusions because 227(c) governs “telephone solicitations”– a definition that includes “messages” and “telephone calls”–but 227(c)’s private right of action only applies to “telephone calls”; implying a limitation not present in 227(b)’s broader use of the mere word “call.”

Regardless, this red district continues to be red.

And if you want to continue to be read up on all the latest TCPA news (see what I did?) be sure to subscribe to TCPAWorld and catch Deserve to Win Ep. 54 with legendary CLO Steve Kaplan talking AEP and Medicare. Before we get there we break down the most important TCPA stories of the week!

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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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