Can You Sue for Spam Texts in Florida? (2026 Guide to TCPA & FTSA Damages)

Getting the same spam text over and over from a company you never gave your number to is not just annoying — under federal and Florida law, it is often illegal, and each unwanted message can be worth $500 to $1,500 in statutory damages. Recent class-action settlements — including the widely reported Cash App / Block Inc. unsolicited-text resolution, the $10.5 million message settlement, and the UnitedHealthcare $2.5M TCPA action — show that courts are actively awarding real money to consumers whose phones were flooded with unwanted marketing texts. This 2026 guide, written by a Miami consumer-protection lawyer, explains when you can sue for spam texts in Florida, which statutes apply, how damages are calculated, and what evidence you need. Nothing here is legal advice — every case turns on its own facts.

Quick Answer

• Yes, you can often sue for unwanted spam texts. The two main laws are the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), 47 U.S.C. § 227, and the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act (FTSA), Fla. Stat. § 501.059.
• TCPA damages: $500 per unlawful text, or $1,500 per text if the violation was willful or knowing (§ 227(b)(3)).
• FTSA damages: $500 per violation, trebled up to $1,500 for willful or knowing violations (Fla. Stat. § 501.059(10)).
• Statute of limitations: 4 years for TCPA claims (28 U.S.C. § 1658); 4 years for FTSA claims (Fla. Stat. § 95.11(3)).
• The FCC one-to-one consent rule (adopted 2023) requires separate written consent for each individual seller — shared 'partner network' consent buried in a lead-gen checkbox no longer counts.
• Texts to numbers on the National Do-Not-Call Registry without an established business relationship are separately actionable under § 227(c)(5).
• You do not have to prove financial loss — the statutes provide fixed statutory damages per text.

Which Law Applies to Your Spam Texts?

Florida consumers are protected by two overlapping statutes, and many spam-text cases plead both.

1. The federal TCPA — 47 U.S.C. § 227

The TCPA prohibits sending marketing text messages to a cell phone using an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) or an artificial or prerecorded voice without the recipient's prior express written consent. Text messages are treated as 'calls' for TCPA purposes under long-standing FCC orders and case law (Satterfield v. Simon & Schuster, 9th Cir. 2009). After Facebook v. Duguid (2021) narrowed the definition of ATDS, plaintiffs' lawyers shifted focus to prerecorded-voice claims, internal do-not-call violations, and FTSA claims where the ATDS question does not apply.

2. The Florida Telephone Solicitation Act — Fla. Stat. § 501.059

Florida's FTSA — amended in 2021 and refined again in 2023 — prohibits sending a telephonic sales call (including a text message) to a Florida consumer using an automated system for the selection or dialing of telephone numbers or the playing of a recorded message without prior express written consent. The FTSA's definition of automated system is broader than the post-Duguid federal ATDS definition, so many texts that no longer support a TCPA claim still support an FTSA claim. The FTSA also contains a statutory-damages provision of $500 per violation (Fla. Stat. § 501.059(10)(a)), trebled to $1,500 for willful or knowing conduct.

3. The National Do-Not-Call Registry — 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(c)

Even if a text is sent manually, sending more than one marketing text within 12 months to a number listed on the National Do-Not-Call Registry for at least 31 days is an independent violation, actionable at $500–$1,500 per text under 47 U.S.C. § 227(c)(5).

When Is a Spam Text Actually Illegal?

Not every unwanted text is unlawful. Under the TCPA and FTSA, a marketing text is generally actionable when all of the following are true:

• The message is marketing or solicitation — not a purely informational, transactional, or emergency message.
• You did not give prior express written consent to receive it (or the seller cannot produce proof of consent).
• The message was sent using an automated dialing/messaging system or a prerecorded/artificial voice (TCPA), or by any automated system (FTSA — broader).
• The message was sent to your cell phone, or to a number on the National Do-Not-Call Registry.
• The sender is a business or its agent — political texts and certain nonprofit texts have narrower rules.

Common examples that often qualify include repeated debt-collection texts to the wrong number, high-volume marketing blasts from lead-generation companies you never heard of, 'we buy houses' texts, cryptocurrency and investment-scam texts, and payday-loan or personal-loan spam.

The 2023 FCC One-to-One Consent Rule

In December 2023, the FCC adopted an order closing what regulators called the lead-generator loophole. Beginning in 2025 for most use cases, prior express written consent under the TCPA must be:

• One-to-one — given to one identified seller at a time, not to a list of partners.
• Logically and topically related to the website or interaction where consent was obtained.
• Clear and conspicuous, not buried in fine print.

That means the old 'By clicking Submit you agree to be contacted by us and our marketing partners' checkbox on a lead-gen site no longer generates valid TCPA consent for the downstream sellers who buy that lead. If a company you never interacted with texts you because it bought your info from a lead-gen network, that is often now a per-text TCPA violation.

How Much Are Spam-Text Damages Worth?

Damages are set by statute — you do not have to prove out-of-pocket loss.

• TCPA: $500 per unlawful text (§ 227(b)(3)(B)); $1,500 per text if willful or knowing (§ 227(b)(3)).
• FTSA: $500 per unlawful text (Fla. Stat. § 501.059(10)(a)); $1,500 per text if willful or knowing.
• Do-Not-Call: $500–$1,500 per text (§ 227(c)(5)) — separately, on top of § 227(b) damages in some cases.

Because damages are per text, cases involving high-volume marketing campaigns can add up quickly. Twenty unlawful texts at $1,500 each is $30,000; a class action involving millions of texts can settle in the eight- or nine-figure range, as recent Cash App and other unsolicited-text settlements have shown.

Statute of Limitations

You generally have 4 years from the date of each unlawful text to file suit. TCPA claims use the federal catch-all limitations period at 28 U.S.C. § 1658 (confirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Mims v. Arrow Financial Services). FTSA claims fall under Florida's four-year statutory limitations period at Fla. Stat. § 95.11(3). Each text is treated as a separate violation with its own limitations clock, so older texts may drop off while newer ones remain actionable.

What Recent Cases Tell Us

Three 2024–2026 developments matter for anyone thinking about a spam-text lawsuit:

1. Class-action settlements are landing.

The reported Cash App / Block Inc. unsolicited-text settlement, a $10.5 million message-related settlement, and the UnitedHealthcare $2.5 million TCPA settlement all show that defendants are paying real money — often per-class-member payments in the $25–$150 range and much more for named plaintiffs — rather than litigating the merits.

2. McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates v. McKesson Corp. (2025).

The U.S. Supreme Court held that federal district courts are not bound by prior FCC interpretive orders under the Hobbs Act. That reopened junk-fax and TCPA questions the plaintiffs' bar had considered closed and gave district courts more room to interpret the statute directly.

3. Florida's FTSA continues to be a preferred vehicle.

Because the FTSA's 'automated system' definition is broader than the post-Duguid federal ATDS test, Florida plaintiffs frequently plead FTSA claims alongside — or instead of — TCPA claims for text-message cases.

What Evidence Do You Need?

Preserving evidence is often the single most important thing a consumer can do before contacting a lawyer:

• Screenshots of every unwanted text, showing the sender number, date, time, and full message body.
• Do not delete the messages — keep the original thread on the device.
• Note whether the text uses your first name or refers to a product you never inquired about — signs of automated marketing.
• If you ever replied STOP or UNSUBSCRIBE, screenshot that too — continued texts after an opt-out request are often willful violations worth $1,500 each.
• Save any web forms, coupons, or lead-gen pages you think may have captured your number.
• Confirm and screenshot your National Do-Not-Call Registry status at donotcall.gov.
• Keep records of any complaints you filed with the FCC, FTC, or Florida Attorney General.

How a Florida Spam-Text Case Usually Works

A typical individual TCPA/FTSA case follows this arc:

• Free case review — a consumer-protection lawyer looks at your screenshots, identifies the sender (often via reverse-lookup, WHOIS, and litigation databases), and evaluates whether the volume and content support a claim.
• Demand letter — many senders settle after a written demand, particularly repeat defendants already facing other TCPA suits.
• Filing suit — in federal court under the TCPA, in Florida state court under the FTSA, or both.
• Discovery — subpoenas to text-message platforms, lead-gen companies, and marketing vendors to identify the source of your number and prove lack of consent.
• Resolution — most cases resolve by settlement; damages are calculated per text at $500 or $1,500.

What This Article Does Not Cover

Political text messages, purely informational texts (e.g., appointment reminders, package-delivery notices, two-factor authentication codes), tax-exempt nonprofit messaging, and business-to-business texts have narrower rules and separate exemptions. Whether a specific text falls inside or outside those categories is a fact-specific inquiry.

Talk to The Farber Law Firm

The Farber Law Firm handles TCPA and FTSA consumer-protection matters for Florida residents on a contingency-fee basis in appropriate cases, meaning eligible clients pay no attorney's fee unless there is a recovery. If your phone is being flooded with unwanted marketing texts and you have preserved the screenshots, a free consultation can tell you whether the volume, content, and sender profile support a viable claim.

The Farber Law Firm, P.A. 2199 Ponce de Leon Blvd #301 Coral Gables, FL 33134 Request a free, confidential case review through our contact form — no obligation, no fee unless we recover.