Should I settle a TCPA demand letter? Working the numbers before you decide
Whether to pay depends on three numbers: what the statute says the calls are worth, what the sender is asking, and what it costs to fight. All three can be worked out in an afternoon. In most cases, where the calls are in your own records and no consent record exists, the demand figure is the lowest number on the page, and the answer is to negotiate the figure and settle. This page shows how.
Start with the exposure
Count the calls and texts in the letter. Each is a violation at $500 under 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(3) or § 227(c)(5). If the conduct was willful or knowing, a court can treble that to $1,500. Conduct is knowing when the business knew the number was on the registry, kept calling after a STOP, or had been told before. The demand letter itself puts you on notice, which is why calls made after the letter are the most expensive calls a business can make.
Then widen the frame. The claim in the letter is one recipient. The same dialer, list and script reached everyone else on the list, and the federal limitation period is four years under 28 U.S.C. § 1658(a). A business that made the calls in the letter almost always made thousands of others like them, and any of those recipients can bring the same claim. Where a state statute applies, Florida's Telephone Solicitation Act being the common one, add its own $500 to $1,500 per violation.
The calculator does this arithmetic.
What a resolution buys
A resolution at the demand stage closes that recipient's claim. The matter is not referred to counsel, no complaint is filed and nothing goes on a public docket. The figure is set below the statutory exposure because it is cheaper for the recipient to resolve too. That discount is the reason the demand stage exists. Make sure the release you sign covers all the calls and texts in the letter and says so.
What a contested matter costs
A business that declines to resolve and is then sued pays its own lawyers from the first letter to the last, win or lose. A contested TCPA case means motion practice, discovery of dialer logs, vendor contracts and consent records, and often expert evidence on the dialing system. Discovery also exposes the whole calling programme to the other side, which is how one recipient's claim becomes a class action. Many general liability policies exclude TCPA claims, so the defence is usually paid from the business's own funds. The figures are on lawyer cost vs the demand.
When a dispute is the right answer
Resolving is not always right. If the calls in the letter were not made by or for your business, say so, with records. If you hold prior express written consent for each number, in the form 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(f) requires, produce it. If the number was reassigned and you checked the FCC's reassigned numbers database before dialing, that is a safe harbour. A dispute that comes with evidence is reviewed on the evidence. A dispute that is a denial without records changes nothing and uses up the deadline.
Negotiating
Most senders will talk. What moves the figure is evidence that removes items from the count, not a plea. If you can show consent for three of the eight numbers, the count is five. If you can show the texts stopped within the time the rules allow after a STOP, those are off. Put that in writing with the records attached and propose a figure that reflects the reduced count. Ask for the release terms at the same time.
The decision
Put the exposure figure, the demand figure and an estimate of defence costs on one page. If the calls are yours and the consent file is thin, the demand is the lowest number on the page and the only one that comes with certainty. If the calls are not yours or the consent is documented, dispute the items that fail and resolve the ones that stand. Either way, decide before the deadline and respond in writing. Nothing here is legal advice; a business with counsel should take this page to them.
Quick answers
How much is a TCPA violation worth?
$500 per call or text under 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(3) or § 227(c)(5). A court can increase that to $1,500 per violation where the conduct was willful or knowing. Florida adds the same figures again under Fla. Stat. § 501.059 for calls to Florida recipients.
Is a TCPA demand letter negotiable?
Usually. The demand figure is set below the statutory exposure because resolving early is cheaper for both sides. A counter supported by records, such as proof of consent for some of the listed numbers, is taken seriously. A counter that is just a lower number with no reason is not.
When should I dispute rather than settle?
When the calls were not made by or for your business, when you hold prior express written consent for the numbers in the form the FCC rules require, or when a wrong-number call was made after checking the reassigned numbers database. Each of those needs evidence, not a denial.