Those unsolicited text messages that are sent to your cellular phone are not just annoying: they may be illegal.
There is a federal law known as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which generally prohibits unsolicited voice and text calls. The law imposes restrictions on the use of an automatic telephone dialing system, which is defined as equipment having the capacity to store or produce telephone numbers using a random or sequential number generator, and which is then used to dial those numbers. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act makes it illegal for any person to make any call, without the prior consent of the party who is called, using any automatic telephone dialing system or artificial or prerecorded voice. With respect to cellular phones, the law makes it illegal to use an automatic telephone dialing system to call cellular phones for which the party who is called is charged a fee.
The term "spam" has historically been associated with e-mail. However, "wireless spam" has recently come to the attention of regulators and consumers, as more and more people are bombarded with unwanted text messages sent to their cell phones advertising all sorts of goods and services. Many companies have seized upon this inexpensive form of advertising and transmit huge numbers of unwanted text messages to people with cell phones in their geographic area. Also, many companies engaged specifically in the marketing of goods and services have been hindered by federal and state laws that limit their ability to solicit consumers by telephone, facsimile and e-mail, and have therefore turned to wireless spam as an inexpensive means of sending bulk solicitations or advertisements. This causes harm to consumers not only because they are subject to the aggravation of receiving wireless spam, but also because consumers frequently have to pay their cellular phone service providers for the receipt of text messages and wireless spam.
To add strength to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, Congress included a provision in the law that allows people who have received unwanted wireless spam to sue for damages. The law allows someone who has been injured by the receipt of an unwanted text message to their cellular phone to receive the actual monetary loss as a result of each violation, or $500 in damages as a result of each violation, whichever is greater. The law also states that if the company sending the unwanted text willfully or knowingly violated the law, the amount of damages may be increased three times, which in the law are referred to as treble damages.
If you or someone you know has received unwanted text messages, please contact us to discuss your legal rights.