Seventh Circuit: texts fall outside the TCPA's Do-Not-Call private right

In Steidinger v. Blackstone Medical Services, the Seventh Circuit affirmed the dismissal of claims by consumers who alleged they kept receiving marketing texts despite being on the National Do Not Call Registry. Looking to the ordinary meaning of 'telephone call' when the TCPA was enacted in 1991, the court held that the statute's Do-Not-Call private right of action does not reach text messages.

Why it matters. In federal courts in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, Do-Not-Call claims based on texts are now foreclosed, while courts elsewhere may decide differently.