A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida stayed discovery in a putative Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class action while the court considers whether text messages qualify as “calls” under the statute’s do-not-call (DNC) provisions. In McGonigle v. Pure Green Franchise Corp., the court granted the defendant’s motion to stay, finding that the key issues can be resolved as questions of law without discovery. 2026 WL 111338 (S.D. Fla. Jan. 15, 2026).
The plaintiff alleges that Pure Green sent unsolicited, automated marketing text messages to his mobile phone in violation of 47 U.S.C. § 227(c) and 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(c), asserting DNC claims based on those texts. Pure Green moved to dismiss, arguing that Section 227(c)’s private right of action does not extend to text messages and that the complaint fails to plausibly plead direct or vicarious liability. The company then asked the court to stay or bifurcate discovery, contending that these threshold legal issues could dispose of the case and make class-wide discovery unnecessary. The court agreed, emphasizing that whether Section 227(c) encompasses text messages and whether the pleadings adequately allege liability are questions of law that do not require factual development. In doing so, the court expressed skepticism about relying on Federal Communications Commission (FCC) interpretations to treat texts as “telephone calls,” noting that “doubling the scope of the provision is not ‘filling up the details'” and even raising nondelegation concerns about the breadth of Congress’ delegation to the FCC. The court also acknowledged that other federal courts, including in the Northern and Middle Districts of Florida and the Central District of Illinois, have held that texts are not “calls” under certain TCPA provisions, while others have reached the opposite conclusion, underscoring a growing split in approaches.
For businesses that rely on text messaging, this decision highlights both the unsettled question of whether TCPA DNC provisions reach SMS and the value of early, targeted motions that can pause costly class discovery. Companies should closely track jurisdiction-specific rulings, and revisit their texting and consent practices and TCPA risk strategy, as courts diverge on whether and how the statute’s DNC provisions reach SMS communications.