Breaking: Seventh Circuit Confirms a Text Message Is Not a “Call” Under the TCPA’s Do-Not-Call Private Right of Action
July 14, 2026
The wait is over. In our earlier coverage — Seventh Circuit Weighs Whether a Text Message Is Really a "Call" Under the TCPA — we reported on oral argument in Steidinger v. Blackstone Medical Services and the panel's pointed questions about whether a 1991 statute reaches modern text messaging. Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit answered. In a unanimous decision authored by Judge Kirsch, the court held that a text message is not a "telephone call" within the meaning of the TCPA's private right of action for Do-Not-Call violations.…
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Seventh Circuit Weighs Whether a Text Message Is Really a “Call” Under the TCPA
June 9, 2026
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit heard oral arguments in Steidinger v. Blackstone Medical Services as it prepares to weigh in on the critical debate over whether a text message should be treated as a “telephone call” under the TCPA. For ecommerce businesses that rely on SMS marketing, customer engagement texts, and automated messaging tools, the outcome could have major implications for future TCPA litigation and compliance obligations.…
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65 TCPA Lawsuits, One Destroyed Computer, and a Federal Judge Who Had Enough
April 13, 2026
A Missouri federal court's devastating 26-page sanctions order in Human v. Fisher Investments offers a rare, detailed look at the predatory litigation model that has become a growing threat to legitimate businesses — including ecommerce merchants. Last week, Judge Matthew T. Schelp of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri issued one of the most striking TCPA sanctions orders in recent memory…
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Federal Court Gives a TCPA Troll a Taste of His Own Medicine: Specialty Medical Inc. v. Mark Dobronski
March 2, 2026
Two powerful TCPA decisions in three days is not a coincidence you get to write about very often. Just 48 hours after a federal magistrate judge in California denied Jamee Desouza's attempt to scrub her employer's name from the record in Desouza v. Ralph Lauren, a federal judge in Michigan issued an opinion that is, if anything, even more consequential for ecommerce brands tired of playing defense against professional plaintiffs. …
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When the Plaintiff’s Own Exhibit Blows Up Her Argument: Desouza v. Ralph Lauren
February 26, 2026
Every so often, a TCPA case comes along that reads less like a consumer protection dispute and more like a cautionary tale about the cottage industry of professional TCPA litigation — and what can happen when a plaintiff’s own paper trail tells a story she’d rather keep hidden. Desouza v. Ralph Lauren Corporation d/b/a Polo Factory Stores, is exactly that kind of case. On February 24, 2026, a federal magistrate judge denied the plaintiff’s motion for a protective order — a motion that was remarkable not just for what it sought, but for the glaring irony embedded in it.…
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Third Circuit Rules that Legislative Communications Not Covered by the TCPA
November 3, 2025
A recent decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Perrong v. Bradford has gained attention from the business and policy community. The case was filed by Andrew R. Perrong a TCPA plaintiff’s lawyer who, according to one court order, is “a habitual litigant with extensive familiarity with the TCPA” that has engaged in “gamesmanship of the lowest order,”. Perrong has pursued this case in his own name, rather than on behalf of a client, as he has done in dozens of other cases filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. …
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