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Robocall Help · Ohio

Robocall Lawyer in Ohio: $500 to $1,500 Per Illegal Call

Ohio regulates telemarketers under Chapter 4719 of the Revised Code, which requires most telephone solicitors to register with the Attorney General and post a bond before they call an Ohio number. If illegal calls or texts are hitting your phone in Ohio, you may be owed $500 to $1,500 per call under the federal TCPA.

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$500 to $1,500
per illegal call or text
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Max Morgan, Esq.

Ohio robocall law at a glance

The federal TCPA supplies the per-call damages. Ohio’s Chapter 4719 adds registration and conduct rules for telephone solicitors.

State law
Ohio Rev. Code Chapter 4719, Telephone Solicitors
Calling hours
No state-specific hours; the federal 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. rule applies
State Do Not Call list
No state list; national registry
Per illegal call
$500 to $1,500federal TCPA, stacks per call

Ohio’s chapter is built around registration rather than call timing. Section 4719.02 requires a telephone solicitor to hold a certificate of registration from the Attorney General, 4719.08 lists prohibited acts including intentionally blocking caller ID and misrepresenting the cost or terms of an offer, and 4719.15 lets a purchaser bring a civil action against a solicitor who violates the chapter. Section 4719.14 makes a violation an unfair or deceptive act under the Consumer Sales Practices Act as well. Ohio does not set its own calling hours and does not run a separate no-call list, so the national registry and the federal 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. telemarketing window are the rules that apply in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Toledo.


Two laws protect Ohio residents

A federal law covers everyone, and Ohio’s own rules can add to it.

Federal law

The TCPA

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the nationwide law behind every claim.

  • Protects everyone in Ohio, no matter the state rules.
  • Bars autodialed or prerecorded calls and texts to your cell without consent.
  • $500 to $1,500 per call, stacking with every violation.
  • You can sue personally, you don’t wait on the government.
Ohio law

Telephone Solicitors, Ohio Rev. Code Chapter 4719

Ohio’s telemarketer registration law, enforced by the Ohio Attorney General.

  • Registration: § 4719.02 requires a certificate of registration from the Attorney General, with a surety bond under § 4719.04.
  • Caller ID: § 4719.08 makes it a prohibited act to intentionally block the disclosure of the solicitor’s number.
  • Private suit: § 4719.15 lets a purchaser sue a violating solicitor for damages and attorney’s fees; § 4719.14 makes the violation a Consumer Sales Practices Act violation too.
  • Do Not Call: no state list; the national registry and the federal TCPA govern.

How the law works in Ohio

The federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is the law that pays in an Ohio robocall case. It bars autodialed and prerecorded calls and texts to a cell phone without prior express consent and bars telemarketing to numbers on the national Do Not Call Registry. The remedy is $500 per violation, up to $1,500 per call when the violation was willful or knowing, and every call or text counts separately. A Cleveland debt buyer that autodials the wrong cell number forty times has forty violations.

Ohio’s own statute, Chapter 4719 of the Revised Code, takes a different approach. It requires most telephone solicitors to register with the Attorney General and post a bond, lists prohibited acts such as intentionally blocking caller ID and misrepresenting the cost or terms of an offer, and lets a purchaser sue a violating solicitor under Section 4719.15. A violation is also an unfair or deceptive act under Ohio’s Consumer Sales Practices Act. The chapter does not set calling hours or create a state no-call list; for those, Ohio relies on the federal rules. The Ohio Attorney General takes unwanted-call reports through its Ohio Protects site and general consumer complaints through its File a Complaint page.

Federal TCPA suits from Ohio are filed in one of two districts. The Northern District of Ohio covers Cleveland, Toledo and Akron, with the 216 and 419 area codes. The Southern District covers Columbus, Cincinnati and Dayton, with 614 and 513. A Chapter 4719 or Consumer Sales Practices Act claim can sometimes be pleaded in the same case, but the TCPA is the engine because its damages are fixed per call and do not depend on showing what the calls cost you.

Max Morgan, Esq. reviews Ohio call records for free. Cases are handled nationwide under the federal TCPA. Local counsel is associated where Ohio rules require it. You pay no fee unless you recover. The federal TCPA limitations period is four years, but talk to us before assuming there is time; each call has its own date and older ones drop off first.

Woman in a yellow sweater on a front porch holding her phone

Getting illegal calls in Ohio? Do this.

  1. Keep the evidence.Your carrier’s call log, the voicemails and screenshots of the texts are what an Ohio case runs on. Do not delete the calls from rotating 614 or 216 numbers.
  2. Register at donotcall.gov.Ohio has no state list of its own, so the national registry is the one that counts. Telemarketing that continues more than 31 days after you register is a separate violation.
  3. Report to the Ohio Attorney General.Report an unwanted call at ohioprotects.org/robo, which asks for the number, the company and whether it was a live call, robocall or text. General complaints go through the Attorney General’s File a Complaint page.
  4. File with the FTC and FCC.Report the number at donotcall.gov and fcc.gov/complaints. Our page on how to report a robocall walks through both.
  5. Get a free case review.Tell us what is hitting your phone and we will tell you whether it looks like a TCPA case. Start with our two-minute case check.

See if you have a case


Why Ohio residents reach out

If any of these sounds like your phone, it’s worth a free look.

“A Cleveland debt buyer’s autodialer calls my cell every morning about someone named on an account that is not mine.”
“I get the same recorded solar pitch on my Columbus number twice a week, from a different 614 number every time.”
“I replied STOP to a Cincinnati furniture store’s texts and the marketing texts kept coming.”

Find out what you’re owed


What we help Ohio residents with

Each of these is a real, recoverable claim under the TCPA.


How it works

Three steps. No cost to find out. No obligation to go further.

1

Tell us what happened

Answer a few plain-English questions about the calls or texts. It takes about two minutes.

2

Max reviews it free

Max Morgan’s team looks at your answers and tells you, honestly, whether you have a claim worth pursuing.

3

If you qualify, he fights for it

You pay nothing up front and nothing unless you recover. Max handles the case.


Real cases Max has helped win

The TCPA is federal, so these results apply to Ohio residents too.

$2.6M

Wrong-number prerecorded debt-collection calls.

Lucas v. Synchrony Bank (N.D. Ind.)

$995K

Telemarketing to Do-Not-Call list & after opt-out.

Campbell v. Everything Breaks (D. Nev.)

$577.5K

385 wrong-number calls at $1,500 each.

Higgs v. Golden Title Loans (W.D. Tenn.)

$400K

Prerecorded calls to cell phones without consent.

Key v. Miracle Faith Center (N.D. Fla.)

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case is different.


Ohio robocall FAQs

Does Ohio have its own Do Not Call list?

No. Chapter 4719 of the Revised Code does not create one, and the Ohio Attorney General directs residents to the national Do Not Call Registry. Register once at donotcall.gov. Telemarketing calls that continue more than 31 days later violate the federal rules, and the Attorney General’s Ohio Protects site takes reports of unwanted calls.

Which court hears an Ohio robocall case?

TCPA claims are federal. The Northern District of Ohio sits in Cleveland, Toledo, Akron and Youngstown; the Southern District sits in Columbus, Cincinnati and Dayton. We file in the district that covers where you live or where the calls reached you, and you do not need to travel to a courthouse to get started.

Do I need an Ohio lawyer?

Not necessarily. The TCPA is a federal statute, so your claim does not depend on hiring a lawyer licensed in Ohio. Cases are handled nationwide under the federal TCPA. Local counsel is associated where Ohio rules require it.

Does Ohio law add anything to a TCPA claim?

Sometimes. Section 4719.15 lets a purchaser sue a telephone solicitor who violates Chapter 4719, and Section 4719.14 makes the violation a Consumer Sales Practices Act violation, which carries its own remedies. Those claims usually matter when a registered or unregistered seller sold you something over the phone; for wrong-number robocalls and spam texts, the TCPA’s $500 to $1,500 per call is the claim that pays.

Does Ohio limit telemarketing calling hours?

Not in Chapter 4719. Ohio relies on the federal telemarketing rules, which bar sales calls before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. local time. Keep a note of the times anyway; a pattern of early-morning or late-night calls helps show the caller is not following any rulebook.

Explore: Wrong-number robocalls · How to sue a telemarketer · Autodialer laws by state · Settlements

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Reviewed by Max Morgan, Esq.

Pennsylvania Attorney ID #316096 · Active, admitted 2013 · The Weitz Firm, LLC · Represents consumers nationwide under the TCPA.
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