For the business that received a claim, and its lawyer
Ten defenses to a TCPA claim, and the evidence each one needs.
A TCPA demand letter or complaint is answered with a defense, not a denial. There are only a few that work, each one answers a particular kind of claim, and each one lives or dies on records you either have or do not. This site takes them one at a time: what the defense is, which claims it reaches, where it fails, and exactly what to produce.
Start with evidence to preserve now if the letter arrived this week. Every other page depends on it.
The defenses
| Defense | Answers | Needs |
|---|---|---|
| Consent | Autodialer and prerecorded-voice claims under § 227(b); do-not-call claims under § 227(c) where the consumer agreed in writing to the calls. | The consent record per number with date, time, source and the disclosure text; an opt-out log showing nothing for that number. |
| Prior express written consent | Marketing calls or texts to a cell phone using an autodialer or an artificial or prerecorded voice; prerecorded marketing calls to residential lines. | The signed or electronically signed agreement, the disclosure text as rendered, the capture timestamp and session data. |
| Established business relationship | Do-not-call claims under § 227(c) based on the National Do Not Call Registry. | The dated transaction or inquiry record tied to that consumer and number; your internal do-not-call list showing no request. |
| Reassigned numbers | § 227(b) claims where the person you reached is not the person who gave consent. | The database query log for each number: query date, consent date, result; the original consent record. |
| Not an autodialer | Autodialer (ATDS) claims under § 227(b)(1)(A), including most autodialer claims about text messages. | Technical documentation of the system, a declaration from the vendor, your campaign configuration, and the list source showing numbers came from a database. |
| Vendor and agency liability | Any TCPA claim where a call center, lead generator, texting platform or marketing agency placed the calls. | The contract, the communications, who supplied lists and scripts, who had access to whose systems, and what you did when you learned how leads were produced. |
| Standing | Claims in federal court by a plaintiff who cannot show a concrete injury, or who was not the subscriber or customary user of the number called. | Who subscribed to and used the number; what the plaintiff actually received; whether they answered, read or were disturbed by it. |
| Statute of limitations | Any federal TCPA claim based on a call made more than four years before the complaint was filed. | Dated call records for each listed call; the filing date of any complaint; any tolling event such as a pending class action. |
| Arbitration clauses | Any TCPA claim by a plaintiff who accepted terms that contain an arbitration agreement and a class-action waiver. | The signup record with timestamp, the terms version in force, the screen as the user saw it, and the clause text. |
| Evidence to preserve now | Every defense on this site. None of them exists without records. | Everything on this page. |
Reading the claim against this list
A TCPA claim is one of three things, and sometimes all three at once. An autodialer or prerecorded-voice claim under 47 U.S.C. § 227(b): calls or texts to a cell phone made with an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice without the right consent. A do-not-call claim under § 227(c): more than one call in twelve months to a number on the National Do Not Call Registry, or to someone who asked you to stop. And a state claim, most often under Florida's statute, Fla. Stat. § 501.059, which has its own wording and its own damages.
Match each listed call to the claim it supports, then to the defense that answers that claim. Consent answers the first. The established business relationship answers only the second. The autodialer defense from Facebook v. Duguid answers the autodialer prong and nothing else. The statute of limitations answers any call older than four years. Vendor liability and standing go to who is liable and who can sue. Arbitration goes to where the fight happens.
The numbers behind every claim are the same: $500 per violation, up to $1,500 if the violation was willful or knowing, under § 227(b)(3) and § 227(c)(5). A defense that removes a call removes that amount. A defense that removes the claim removes all of it. That is why the evidence pages on this site are longer than the law pages.