What is the statute of limitations for a TCPA claim?
Four years from each call or text, under the general federal limitation period in 28 U.S.C. § 1658(a). The deadline on a demand letter is a different clock: the sender’s, not the law’s.
Four years. The TCPA does not contain its own limitation period, so the general federal period for statutes enacted after 1990 applies: 28 U.S.C. § 1658(a), four years from when the claim accrues, which is the date of each call or text. A call made last month and a call made three and a half years ago are both inside the window today.
What the lookback means
The claim in a demand letter is one person's. The same list, script and dialer reached everyone else on the list, and every one of those people has four years from their own calls. A business that has been running the same campaign for several years has an exposure that extends back through all of it, which is the reason a single letter is treated by defence lawyers as a signal rather than a one-off. See could one letter become a class action.
Two clocks, not one
The date on the letter is the sender's deadline for a reply. When it passes, the demand-stage figure is withdrawn and the matter is referred to counsel. The four-year period is the law's deadline for filing. The letter's date passing does not shorten or extend it. See getting an extension and how long until a lawsuit.
Record retention
The practical consequence: keep consent records, scrub reports, opt-out logs and dialer exports for at least four years after the last call to a number. A business that can produce its records resolves claims on the evidence. One that cannot pays the full count.
People also ask
Does the four years run from the first call or the last?
From each call. A claim on a call made three years and eleven months ago can still be filed this month; a claim on one made four years and a day ago generally cannot.
Does Florida’s FTSA have the same period?
Florida sets its own limitation period under state law. It is not quoted here because state periods differ and change; a Florida lawyer can confirm the current one.
Does the demand letter pause the clock?
No. Nothing pauses it short of a filed complaint or a written agreement to toll. The sender can file at any point inside the four years.