The anatomy of a TCPA demand letter: what each section means

A TCPA demand letter has a standard shape because it is built from a standard claim: a person received calls or texts they say were unlawful, the statute gives them a fixed sum per call, and the letter asks you to resolve it before they sue. Each section does a job. Read in order, the letter tells you what the sender has, what they are relying on, what they want, and by when. Here is what each part means and what to do with it.

1. The letterhead and the sender

The top of the letter identifies who is writing: a law firm acting for the person called, or a company that documents calls and sends demands on their behalf. Note the exact legal name, the address and the domain. You will use all three to verify the sender. If a lawyer signed, there will be a bar number or a state of admission somewhere on the page.

2. The addressee and the reference line

The letter is addressed to the entity the sender believes made or benefited from the calls, sometimes with an owner or officer named as well. A "Re:" line carries the matter reference and often the name of the person called. Quote the reference on everything you send back. If the letter names an officer personally, that is a signal that the sender is keeping personal liability open, which courts have allowed where an individual directed the calls.

3. The preservation notice

A paragraph, usually early and in firmer language than the rest, telling you to preserve all records relating to the calls. This is a litigation hold. It means the sender anticipates a lawsuit and is putting you on notice that records must not be deleted or altered. Take it literally. Dialer logs, call recordings, text-platform exports, lead files, consent records, vendor contracts, scripts, do-not-call policies and internal lists all stay exactly as they are.

4. The statement of facts

The core of the letter. A table or list of each call and text: the number called, the date, the time, the caller ID shown, and what was said or sent. It may note that the number was on the National Do Not Call Registry on the date of the call, that a STOP reply was sent, or that the call opened with a recorded message or a pause typical of a dialer. Every row is a separate violation in the sender's arithmetic. Your first job on day two is to match every row against your own logs.

5. The legal basis

The letter then says which rules the calls breached. The usual citations:

• 47 U.S.C. § 227(b): calls or texts to a cell phone using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice without prior express consent. Marketing calls of this kind need prior express written consent under the FCC rules.
• 47 U.S.C. § 227(c) and 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(c): telemarketing calls to a number on the National Do Not Call Registry, actionable once a person has received more than one such call in a twelve-month period from the same business.
• 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(d): the internal do-not-call procedures a business must have, including a written policy and honouring opt-outs.
• Fla. Stat. § 501.059: the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act, cited when the person called is in Florida. It carries its own $500 and $1,500 figures, so a single call can be counted under both the federal and the state statute.

6. The damages

The arithmetic. The statute allows $500 per violation and up to $1,500 where a court finds the conduct willful or knowing. The letter will typically show the count of violations, the figure at $500, the figure at $1,500, and often the Florida stack on top. Check it. The sections are short and the maths is multiplication. Whether the count is right is a question for your records; whether the per-call figure is right is a question the statute answers.

7. The demand and the deadline

A figure the sender will accept to resolve the listed calls, and a date by which they want a reply. The figure is normally below the statutory exposure, because resolving at this stage is cheaper for both sides. The date is the sender's deadline, not a court deadline. What it does and does not mean is on the deadline.

8. How to respond

Instructions for replying: an email address, a portal, a postal address, and sometimes a request for specific things, such as proof of consent for the listed numbers. Reply by the method given, in writing, quoting the reference.

9. Signature and enclosures

Who signed and in what capacity. Enclosures may include screenshots of texts, a call-recording transcript, a registry confirmation, or a draft release. Keep the envelope too. The postmark is evidence of when notice was received, which matters because calls made after notice are treated as knowing.