Florida FTSA lawsuit statistics: federal court filings by year, 2021 to 2026

How many Florida Telephone Solicitation Act lawsuits are filed each year?

In Florida's three federal district courts, dockets citing the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act (FTSA) rose from 31 in 2021 to 224 in 2022, then fell to 113 in 2023, 62 in 2024 and 72 in 2025. From January 1 to October 11, 2026 there were 34. These are our own counts from the CourtListener federal docket archive, run on October 12, 2026.

Source: Autoesta count of federal dockets in the CourtListener RECAP archive for the Southern, Middle and Northern Districts of Florida, by date filed, queried October 12, 2026. Method and limits are below. The share column is FTSA dockets divided by TCPA dockets in the same courts and year, rounded.

What is the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act?

The FTSA, section 501.059 of the Florida Statutes, is Florida's own law on sales calls and texts, often called Florida's mini-TCPA. It bans automated sales calls and texts without prior express written consent, gives consumers a right to sue, and sets damages of actual losses or $500 per violation, up to three times that for willful violations.

Three dates explain the numbers in the table:

• July 1, 2021. Chapter 2021-185 (SB 1120) took effect. It added the consent requirement for automated sales calls and texts and the private right to sue, using a broad definition of an automated system.
• May 2023. Chapter 2023-150 (HB 761) was approved by the Governor on May 26, 2023. It narrowed the automated-system definition to systems for the "selection and dialing" of numbers, and added a step for texts: the person must reply STOP, and can sue only if the business keeps texting more than 15 days after that.
• Today. The current text of 501.059 includes both changes, plus Florida's own "no sales solicitation calls" list.

The law covers calls and texts "to a consumer for the purpose of soliciting a sale". Appointment reminders and replies to someone who asked to be contacted are treated differently from sales outreach, which is why consent records matter so much in a CRM.

Did the 2023 amendment reduce FTSA lawsuits?

The federal docket counts fell sharply after it. Dockets citing the FTSA dropped from 224 in 2022 to 62 in 2024, a 72% fall. Within 2023, 69 dockets were filed before the amendment (January 1 to May 25) and 44 after it (May 26 to December 31), even though the second period is longer.

The counts show timing, not cause. Other things changed in the same years: courts ruled on what counts as an autodialer, and plaintiffs' firms may have moved cases to state court, which this data does not cover. What we can say is that FTSA filings in federal court peaked in 2022, fell by about half in 2023, and have stayed between 62 and 72 a year since, while federal TCPA dockets in the same courts stayed between 266 and 411.

Per-30-day rates are our arithmetic: dockets divided by days in the period, times 30. The filing rate fell by about 58% across the amendment within the same year.

Where in Florida are FTSA lawsuits filed?

In 2022, about half of the FTSA dockets we counted (111 of 224) were in the Southern District of Florida, the federal court for Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. In 2026 so far it is 6 of 34. Most 2026 dockets are in the Middle District, which covers Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville: 27 of 34.

For 2026 we also counted the two other districts separately: 27 dockets in the Middle District and 1 in the Northern District.

The shift could reflect where plaintiffs' firms file, court rulings in each district, or simply which dockets have been added to the archive. Each district's coverage in CourtListener depends on which documents have been uploaded, so treat the district split as a signal, not a census.

What kinds of businesses get sued under the FTSA?

The federal dockets we sampled were brought against businesses that sell by phone and text: insurance and mortgage companies, tax and debt relief firms, resorts and travel sellers, home improvement and security companies, telehealth and wellness providers, and a political committee. Most carry the federal TCPA cause code, with the FTSA claim alongside it.

We read the first 12 results for 2022 and for 2025. 19 of the 24 carry the federal cause code 47 U.S.C. 227 (the TCPA); the other 5 have no cause code in the docket data. Named defendants in the 2025 sample include a tax relief company, a resort group, a bath remodeler, a mortgage lender and a telehealth company. Some cases are filed as class actions, which is what can turn $500 per text into a large number.

For a service business using GoHighLevel or another CRM, the lesson is practical. The exposure is not the single text you send by hand. It is an automated sequence that texts thousands of contacts who never gave written consent, or keeps texting after a STOP reply.

How do you avoid FTSA problems when texting Florida leads?

Collect written consent before automated sales texts, keep a record of where and when each contact gave it, stop texting the moment someone replies STOP, and send sales texts and calls only between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. local time. Check Florida's no sales solicitation list as well as the national Do Not Call list.

1. Consent on the form. A separate, unchecked SMS box that names your business, says what you will text and how often, and explains how to stop. Under 501.059, a checked box counts as a signature.
2. Consent on the record. Save the date, form and page on the contact, so you can show it later.
3. STOP that works at once. Remove the contact from every marketing sequence on the first STOP reply, including Spanish replies such as ALTO in bilingual markets.
4. Hours and caps. Florida's Telemarketing Act (501.616) limits commercial telephone sellers to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. local time and three sales calls in 24 hours on the same subject. Our guide to texting hours covers other states.
5. Separate reminders from sales. Keep appointment reminders and service messages in their own workflows, so a sales opt-out does not stop a reminder the customer asked for, and a reminder never turns into a pitch.

We set these rules up in GoHighLevel accounts for Florida businesses. See our GoHighLevel agency in Miami for new builds, or the GoHighLevel expert in Miami page for fixing an account that already texts. The Realeshome case study shows a Florida lead system built this way. For the federal side, read is AI calling legal and our note on the FCC's consent revocation changes. This page is research, not legal advice.

How we counted FTSA lawsuits

We searched the CourtListener RECAP archive of federal court dockets through its public search API on October 12, 2026. We counted dockets in the Southern, Middle and Northern Districts of Florida that match "Florida Telephone Solicitation Act" or "501.059", by the year the case was filed, and ran the same count for "Telephone Consumer Protection Act" as a comparison.

• Query. Docket search (type "r") with the phrase query above, courts flsd, flmd and flnd, filtered by date filed, one calendar year at a time. 2026 runs from January 1 to October 11. The 2021 and 2023 splits use the same query with the date ranges shown.
• What a count is. A docket whose text or uploaded documents match the phrase. A case that cites the FTSA only in an unarchived document is missed; a case that mentions the FTSA without suing under it is included.
• Federal only. Florida state courts are not in this data. Many FTSA cases are filed in state court, so the true number of lawsuits is higher than these counts.
• Coverage. RECAP holds dockets that users and partners have added from PACER. Coverage is broad for these courts but not complete, and it can grow over time, so recent years may rise slightly as more dockets are added.
• Spot check. We read the first 12 results for 2022 and for 2025. 19 of the 24 carry the TCPA cause code (47 U.S.C. 227); the other 5 list no cause code.

Each update to this page will carry its own query date. The CourtListener search parameters above are enough to reproduce the counts; results on a later day may differ slightly as the archive grows.

Questions about FTSA lawsuits

How much can you be sued for under the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act?

Under 501.059(10), a person can recover their actual damages or $500, whichever is greater, for each violation. If the court finds the violation was willful or knowing, it can award up to three times that amount. The prevailing party also gets reasonable attorney fees and costs.

Does the FTSA apply to businesses outside Florida?

It can. The law covers businesses that make sales calls or texts from Florida or from other states or countries to consumers in Florida, and it presumes a call to a Florida area code reaches a Florida resident. A remote business texting Florida numbers should follow it.

Does the FTSA apply to appointment reminders?

The FTSA's rules on automated calls are about telephonic sales calls, meaning calls and texts made to solicit a sale. A reminder for an appointment the customer booked is not a sales message by that definition. If the reminder also promotes a new service, it can become one, so keep reminders and promotions separate.

What is the 15-day STOP rule in the FTSA?

Since the 2023 amendment, a person who receives sales texts must first reply STOP. The business then has 15 days to stop texting, and may send one message confirming the opt-out. The person can sue over the texts only if the business keeps texting after those 15 days.

Sources

• Free Law Project, CourtListener RECAP archive and search API (v4), queried October 12, 2026.
• Florida Legislature, Florida Statutes 501.059, Telephone solicitation, read October 12, 2026.
• Florida Legislature, Florida Statutes 501.616, read October 12, 2026.
• Florida Senate, SB 1120 (2021), Chapter 2021-185, effective July 1, 2021.
• Florida Senate, HB 761 (2023), Chapter 2023-150, approved by the Governor May 26, 2023.