The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that text messages are not considered calls under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). This decision, which has potential far-reaching consequences, came in the case of Steidinger v. Blackstone Medical Services, No. 25-2398 (7th Cir. July 14, 2026). The Seventh Circuit’s ruling ultimately conflicts with decisions from other circuit courts and could lead to the U.S. Supreme Court resolving the issue definitively.
The case began when plaintiffs received unwanted marketing text messages from the defendant, despite their requests to stop or their inclusion in the Do-Not-Call Registry. They filed a putative class action under the TCPA, but the district court dismissed the claims, stating that the relevant provision, 47 U.S.C. § 227(c)(5), only applies to phone calls. The defendant argued that this provision creates a private right of action solely for phone calls, not text messages, a position the court upheld.
The Court’s Reasoning
On appeal, the Seventh Circuit affirmed the district court‘s decision. The court examined the plain meaning of the term “telephone call” in the context of the TCPA, which was enacted in 1991. Notably, the first text message was not sent until 1992, further supporting the court’s conclusion that text messages were not contemplated when the TCPA was drafted. Since the act does not define the term, the court referred to contemporaneous dictionary definitions.
In 1991, a telephone was defined as an “instrument for reproducing sounds at a distance”. As text messages do not reproduce sounds, they did not meet the definition of a telephone call at the time the TCPA was written. The court also noted that the provisions surrounding § 227(c)(5) provided further support for this interpretation, as §§ 227(c)(3) and (4) relate to telephone solicitations, a term specifically defined to include more than just calls, showing Congress’s intent to differentiate between terms within the same statute.
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Plaintiffs’ Arguments Rejected
The plaintiffs argued that the term “telephone call” should be interpreted broadly to include text messages, citing the evolving nature of technology. However, the court rejected this argument, stating that the “march of technology” does not justify ignoring the plain meaning of the statute. The plaintiffs also argued that Supreme Court and other circuit court decisions undermine the defendants’ argument. The Seventh Circuit found that the Supreme Court cases relied upon by the plaintiffs never actually decided what the term “call” meant, noting that the parties never argued that issue, and it rejected the other circuit courts’ decisions on that same basis.
The Court also rejected the plaintiffs’ plea to consider the Federal Communications Commission’s interpretation of the term “call,” noting that under recent Supreme Court precedent, it is no longer bound to defer to the agency’s determination. Finally, the court rejected the plaintiffs’ public policy arguments, noting that “the plaintiffs’ policy arguments and broad invocation of the TCPA’s remedial nature ‘cannot overcome the clear commands of [§ 227(c)(5)’s] text and the statutory context.’
Impact and Future Implications
This ruling binds Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, effectively ending TCPA class actions under § 227(c)(5) for unwanted marketing text messages in these states. However, other courts may rule differently, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) retains the power to regulate such messages under the TCPA. The FCC retains the ability to regulate unwanted text messages under the TCPA.
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