Telephone Consumer Protection Act call time restrictions
- Peter Schneider
- Feb 4
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 18
A lesser known restriction in the Telephone Consumer Act's implementing regulation 47 CFR § 64.1200(c): No person or entity shall initiate any telephone solicitation to:
(1) Any residential telephone subscriber before the hour of 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. (local time at the called party's location)
Who can't take advantage of the law? Hint, it is in the definition of telephone solicitation at 47 CFR § 64.1200(f)(15): . . . such term does not include a call or message:
(i) To any person with that person's prior express invitation or permission;
(ii) To any person with whom the caller has an established business relationship [EBR]; or
(iii) By or on behalf of a tax-exempt nonprofit organization.
People or companies you are doing business with may well be able to call you 24 hours a day, but the good news is a seller-specific do-not-call request severs the EBR and you can continue doing business with the seller. 47 CFR § 64.1200(f)(5)(1):
The subscriber's seller-specific do-not-call request, as set forth in paragraph (d)(3) of this section, terminates an established business relationship for purposes of telemarketing and telephone solicitation even if the subscriber continues to do business with the seller.
This is playing out in telemarketing lawsuit Fernandez v. 7-Eleven, Inc. TCPA plaintiff Fernandez is suing 7-Eleven for not just calling without consent, but calling outside of 9pm to 8am.
And Fernandez brought receipts, he included screenshots of the text messages in the complaint. Maybe there is something in the water because a second recent TCPA lawsuit with a 13 page complaint alleging call time violations as been filed, Ibarra v Louisiana Crawfish Company. The complaint lists a fact that I don't know the actual truth of:
the Federal Communications Commission levied over $200 million in penalties against telemarketers between 2015 ad 2018, it collected less than $7,000 of that amount
But the complaint points to a Wall Street Journal article so it could well be true.
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act is federal law, and Washington State's telemarketing law RCW 80.36.390(8) says A telephone solicitor shall not place calls to any person which will be received before 8:00 a.m. or after 8:00 p.m. at the call recipient's local time with a statutory penalty of $1,000 (11) A violation of subsection (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), or (10) of this section is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 for each violation.
Washington State's "telephone solicitation" is a little broader than the TCPA because it means the unsolicited initiation of a telephone call by a commercial or nonprofit company or organization to a person for the purpose of encouraging the person to purchase property, goods, or services, wrongfully obtaining anything of value, or soliciting donations of money, property, goods, or services.
The TCPA generally excludes non-profit calls and scam calls [if they aren't selling anything!] from do-not-call violations.
Would you like a free case review? Do you have a question or a telemarketing, debt collection, or bankruptcy case that would make a great blog article? We might even review your pro-se complaint or motion in a blog post. Email peter@nwdebtresolution.com and/or nathen@nwdebtresolution.com and we may answer it for everyone!
Are telemarketers harassing you in Washington, Oregon, or Montana? My Washington State TCPA plaintiff law practice can help, just give us a call at 206-800-6000 or email peter@nwdebtresolution.com.
The thoughts, opinions and musings of this blog are those of Peter Schneider, a consumer advocate and Washington State plaintiff's TCPA attorney at Northwest Debt Resolution, LLC. They are just that, his thoughts, opinions and musings and should be treated as such. They are not legal advice. If you are looking to file a lawsuit for TCPA violations and unwanted calls please contact me for a consultation.
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