Robocall Help · South Carolina
Robocall Lawyer in South Carolina: $500 to $1,500 Per Illegal Call
South Carolina’s Telephone Privacy Protection Act, Chapter 21 of Title 37 of the Code of Laws, took effect in 2018 and gives residents their own claim of $1,000 per violation on top of the federal rules. If illegal calls or texts are hitting your phone in South Carolina, you may be owed $500 to $1,500 per call under the federal TCPA.
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South Carolina robocall law at a glance
The federal TCPA supplies fixed per-call damages. South Carolina’s 2018 Act adds a state claim with its own $1,000 per violation.
South Carolina replaced its old telephone solicitation statute in 2018 with the Telephone Privacy Protection Act. Section 37-21-30 limits telephone solicitations to 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the consumer’s location unless there is prior written consent. The Act bars misleading caller ID, including displaying a South Carolina area code without a physical presence in the state, requires solicitors to honor the national Do Not Call Registry, and requires a solicitor to honor a do-not-contact request for at least five years. Section 37-21-80 lets an aggrieved person sue for actual losses plus $1,000 per violation, up to $5,000 per violation if the court finds the violation willful, with attorney’s fees and costs. The Department of Consumer Affairs and the Attorney General both enforce it. South Carolina does not keep a separate state list.
Two laws protect South Carolina residents
A federal law covers everyone, and South Carolina’s own rules can add to it.
The TCPA
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the nationwide law behind every claim.
- Protects everyone in South Carolina, 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.
South Carolina Telephone Privacy Protection Act, S.C. Code § 37-21-10 et seq.
South Carolina’s 2018 telemarketing law, enforced by the Department of Consumer Affairs and the Attorney General.
- Calling hours: § 37-21-30 bars telephone solicitations outside 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the consumer’s location without prior written consent.
- Caller ID: no misleading caller ID, and no South Carolina area code on the display unless the caller has a physical presence in the state.
- Do Not Call: the national registry governs, and a do-not-contact request must be honored for at least five years.
- Private suit: § 37-21-80 allows actual losses plus $1,000 per violation, up to $5,000 per violation if willful, plus attorney’s fees.
How the law works in South Carolina
The federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is the law that pays in a South Carolina 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 Columbia collector that autodials the wrong 803 number every day for a month has thirty violations.
South Carolina’s own statute is the Telephone Privacy Protection Act, chapter 21 of Title 37, effective May 18, 2018. It confines telephone solicitations to 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the consumer’s location, bars misleading caller ID, bars displaying a South Carolina area code without a physical presence in the state, requires solicitors to honor the national Do Not Call Registry, and requires them to honor a do-not-contact request for at least five years. Section 37-21-80 gives an aggrieved person a claim for actual losses plus $1,000 per violation, up to $5,000 per violation for a willful violation, plus attorney’s fees and costs. The Department of Consumer Affairs can issue cease-and-desist orders and penalties, and the Attorney General can sue.
Federal TCPA suits from South Carolina are filed in the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, which holds court in Charleston, Columbia, Greenville, Florence and other divisions and covers the whole state, including North Charleston and the 843, 803 and 864 area codes. A Telephone Privacy Protection Act claim can sometimes be pleaded alongside the TCPA claim in the same case, and its per-violation damages make South Carolina one of the states where the state claim carries real weight next to the federal one.
Max Morgan, Esq. reviews South Carolina call records for free. Cases are handled nationwide under the federal TCPA. Local counsel is associated where South Carolina 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.
Getting illegal calls in South Carolina? Do this.
- Keep the evidence.Your carrier’s call log, the voicemails and screenshots of the texts are what the case is built on. Do not delete calls from rotating 843 or 803 numbers, and note when the caller ID showed a local area code.
- Register at donotcall.gov.South Carolina has no separate state list; the Telephone Privacy Protection Act requires solicitors to honor the national registry. Telemarketing that continues more than 31 days after registration is a separate violation.
- Report to the Department of Consumer Affairs.File a complaint through the Consumer Complaints page at consumer.sc.gov or call (800) 922-1594. The Attorney General also investigates violations of the Act.
- 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.
- 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.
Why South Carolina residents reach out
If any of these sounds like your phone, it’s worth a free look.
What we help South Carolina residents with
Each of these is a real, recoverable claim under the TCPA.
Wrong-number robocalls
Prerecorded or auto-dialed calls meant for someone else. You can have a claim even though you’re not a customer.
About wrong-number robocall claimsWrong-number debt collection
Auto-dialed collection calls for a debt that was never yours. Illegal twice over, and it pays.
About wrong-number debt collection claims“Stop calling me”
You told them to stop and the calls kept coming. Each one can be a separate violation.
About claims for calls after you said stopSpam text messages
Marketing texts you never agreed to count under the TCPA too. Screenshots are often all the proof you need.
About spam text message lawsuitsDo-Not-Call violations
Registered your number and the calls didn’t stop? Continued telemarketing may entitle you to damages.
About Do Not Call violation claimsPrerecorded cell calls
Robotic or artificial-voice calls to your cell without consent are a clear TCPA violation.
About prerecorded cell call claimsHow it works
Three steps. No cost to find out. No obligation to go further.
Tell us what happened
Answer a few plain-English questions about the calls or texts. It takes about two minutes.
Max reviews it free
Max Morgan’s team looks at your answers and tells you, honestly, whether you have a claim worth pursuing.
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 South Carolina residents too.
Wrong-number prerecorded debt-collection calls.
Lucas v. Synchrony Bank (N.D. Ind.)
Telemarketing to Do-Not-Call list & after opt-out.
Campbell v. Everything Breaks (D. Nev.)
385 wrong-number calls at $1,500 each.
Higgs v. Golden Title Loans (W.D. Tenn.)
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.
South Carolina robocall FAQs
Does South Carolina have its own Do Not Call list?
No. The Telephone Privacy Protection Act requires telephone solicitors to honor the National Do Not Call Registry and to keep their own internal do-not-contact lists for at least five years after you ask. Register once at donotcall.gov and both the state Act and the federal TCPA protect the number.
Which court hears a South Carolina robocall case?
TCPA claims are federal, so they go to the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, which sits in Charleston, Columbia, Greenville, Florence and other divisions. A state claim under section 37-21-80 can sometimes be added to the same case. We handle the filing; you do not need to travel to a courthouse to get started.
Do I need a South Carolina lawyer?
Not necessarily. The TCPA is a federal statute, so your claim does not depend on hiring a lawyer licensed in South Carolina. Cases are handled nationwide under the federal TCPA. Local counsel is associated where South Carolina rules require it.
Does South Carolina law add anything to a TCPA claim?
Yes. Section 37-21-80 lets an aggrieved person recover actual losses plus $1,000 per violation, up to $5,000 per violation if the court finds the violation willful, plus attorney’s fees and costs. The Act’s caller ID and do-not-contact rules also line up with a federal claim for Do Not Call violations. Whether the two can be combined depends on the facts, which is what the free review is for.
What are South Carolina’s telemarketing calling hours?
Section 37-21-30 bars telephone solicitations at any time other than 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time at your location unless you gave prior written consent. That matches the federal window. A pattern of calls outside those hours is a state violation on its own and helps show the caller ignores the rules.
Explore: Wrong-number robocalls · How to sue a telemarketer · Autodialer laws by state · Settlements
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