How much trouble am I in?

The number in the letter is not random and it is not the worst case. It is usually somewhere between two figures you can work out yourself.

The floor

Under 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(3) and § 227(c)(5), statutory damages are $500 per violation. A violation is a call or a text. Not a person, not a campaign. Each one. Three calls and two texts to one person is five violations, $2,500. You do not have to prove the person lost money. They do not have to prove they were harmed beyond receiving the call.

The ceiling for the listed calls

The same sections let a court treble that to $1,500 per violation if the violation was willful or knowing. Calling after someone said stop. Calling after a letter like this one arrived. Running a bought list with no Do Not Call scrub, ever. Those are the facts courts use. Five violations becomes $7,500. Every item on do not do this is a way to get there.

Florida

If the person you called is in Florida, the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act, Fla. Stat. § 501.059, gives them a second claim for the same call. Another $500 to $1,500 each. The same five contacts can run to $15,000.

The number that actually matters

The letter counts the calls to one person. A lawsuit does not stop there. Once a case is filed, the other side can ask for your dialer records in discovery, and the federal limitations period for these claims is four years under 28 U.S.C. § 1658. Every call made the same way, to anyone, in that window, is on the table. If the campaign was 2,000 numbers from a purchased list with no written consent, the floor is a million dollars. That is the figure to be honest with yourself about, and it is why the demand in the letter tends to be small by comparison.

The letter is priced on what they can see. The lawsuit is priced on what you did.

Things that do not reduce it

• "We stopped calling." Good. It prevents new violations. The old ones still happened.
• "It was only a few people." Per call, not per people.
• "They never picked up." A call that rings is a call. A text that is delivered is a call under the statute.
• "We did not know the rules." Not knowing the law is not a defence. It may keep you at $500 instead of $1,500, which is the difference between bad and worse.
• "Our LLC protects me." Owners and managers who personally directed the calling have been held personally liable in some cases. Ask a lawyer about your facts before relying on the entity.

Things that do reduce it

• Written consent you can print, per number. A form the person signed or ticked that names your business and says they agree to automated calls or texts. Not a vendor's word that the list was clean. If a vendor made the calls, start with it was our vendor.
• Calls older than four years. Generally out of time.
• Calls your business did not make or pay for. Rare, but it happens: wrong entity, spoofed caller ID.
• A dialer that is not an autodialer and no recorded voice. Narrows which section applies. Does not touch the Do Not Call rules or Florida.

Insurance

Read your general liability policy before you assume it helps. Many exclude TCPA claims by name, or exclude statutory penalties. Some do not. The policy wording decides it, and most require prompt notice either way.

What to do with the number

If the arithmetic on the listed calls is above the demand and nothing on the reduce list moves it, the demand is the cheapest exit. Settle it in writing, with a release, before the date on the letter. Arguing with a documented call costs more than paying for it.