The First Text Cuts The Deepest: Eleventh Circuit Aligns With Other Circuits On TCPA Standing

On July 24, 2023, an en banc Eleventh Circuit joined the majority of circuits to find that just one text is sufficient to establish standing to bring a Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA") claim. The decision, Drazen v. Pinto, — F.4th —, 2023 WL 4699939 (11th Cir. July 24, 2023), not only undoes the panel's original holding, but also reverses course from the Eleventh Circuit's prior decision in Salcedo v. Hanna, 936 F.3d 1162 (11th Cir. 2019), which held that a Plaintiff who received a single text message did not have TCPA standing.

The original Drazen panel applied the Salcedo precedent when it dismissed an appeal by a class objector regarding the attorneys' fees awarded and type of settlement approved by the district court. Relying on Salcedo, the panel answered an unasked question by the appellant-objector and held that the class definition approved by the district court must be revisited because it improperly included individuals who received a