Split Decision: 5th And 11th Circuits Diverge On TCPA Standing

Standing, or the right to bring a lawsuit, is a contentious and often complicated doctrine in the world of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA"). TCPA standing requires that a plaintiff allege a concrete injury beyond just a pure statutory violation. The question raised by a recent opinion from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (covering federal courts in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas) is how much of an injury in addition to a statutory violation is necessary to satisfy TCPA standing requirements. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a plaintiff needs to allege more of a concrete injury than merely "invasion of privacy" for the receipt of unwanted text messages to have standing. In a case captioned Cranor v. Five Star Nutrition, the Fifth Circuit directly disagreed, holding that a statutory violation plus an allegation of "invasion of privacy" or "nuisance" is enough to establish TCPA standing.