Do Text Messages Still Trigger TCPA National And Internal DNC Claims Post-McKesson?

Over the last few years, the Supreme Court breathed new life into a variety of defendant-friendly TCPA arguments. A product of those decisions, including McLaughlin Chiropractic Assocs., Inc. v. McKesson Corp., has been an increasing number of courts concluding that text messages, or even wireless phone numbers, do not fall within the scope of the TCPA’s private right of action used by plaintiffs to bring National Do Not Call Registry and Internal Do Not Call List claims.

Leading the charge is the Seventh Circuit’s Steidinger v. Blackstone Medical Services decision, where the Court of Appeals concluded that text messages do not fall within the ambit of the private right of action at 47 U.S.C. § 227(c)(5). As the Seventh Circuit explained, the TCPA defines a “telephone solicitation” to mean “a telephone call or message.” Critically, however, the private right of action at Section 227(c)(5) only references “telephone calls.”