Robocall Guide · Settlements
How TCPA damages are calculated
TCPA damages are arithmetic. Count the illegal calls, multiply by $500 (or $1,500 if willful), and that’s the claim. In one real case, that math produced $577,500 from a single calculation.
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Short answer
TCPA damages are calculated per call: each illegal robocall or text is worth $500, and the violations stack, with every call counted separately. If the calls were willful or knowing, a court can multiply the figure to $1,500 per call. So the calculation is the number of illegal calls × the per-call amount. In Higgs v. Golden Title Loans, that worked out to 385 × $1,500 = $577,500.
The calculation in four steps
- Count every illegal call or text. Each is a separate violation.
- Multiply by $500 (the baseline) for the standard figure.
- If the calls were willful, use $1,500 instead of $500.
- Violations stack. No cap swallows the per-call total.
Step one: count the calls
The unit of a TCPA claim is the individual call or text, not the campaign as a whole. Your first job is counting. Every illegal robocall and every spam text is a separate violation.
This is why your call log matters so much. Forty calls isn’t one “robocall problem” worth a single payment. It’s forty violations, each carrying its own value. Keep the log, save voicemails, screenshot texts.
Step two: apply the per-call rate
Each violation carries a fixed dollar amount set by the statute. The baseline is $500.
You don’t prove what each call cost you. These are statutory damages, a price Congress wrote into the law. You establish that the call broke the rules, and $500 attaches.
Step three: stacking
“Stacking” is the feature that makes TCPA claims add up. Because each call is its own violation, the dollars accumulate across the whole campaign rather than being capped at a single payment.
- One illegal call: $500.
- Fifty illegal calls: $25,000.
- Three hundred illegal calls: $150,000.
There’s no rule that lumps a campaign into one violation. A company that dials you a hundred times has committed a hundred violations, and the math reflects every one.
Step four: the willful multiplier
If the violation was willful or knowing, the calculation changes in one way. The per-call figure can rise to $1,500, three times the baseline.
A court decides whether to apply it, so it isn’t automatic. Where it applies, it multiplies the entire claim by three.
A worked example
Consider the whole calculation on a real case. In Higgs v. Golden Title Loans (No. 2:20-cv-2559, W.D. Tenn.), a man received persistent wrong-number calls. He was never the company’s customer.
- Count: 385 illegal calls.
- Rate: the court applied the willful rate of $1,500 per call.
- Stacking: every call counted separately.
- Result: 385 × $1,500 = $577,500, awarded on summary judgment.
That’s the entire method in one line. The same arithmetic scales up in class actions, like the $2.6M in Lucas v. Synchrony Bank (No. 4:21-cv-00070, N.D. Ind.), where the per-call math is multiplied across thousands of people.
What the math can’t tell you
The calculation is simple once the inputs are settled, but the inputs are where cases are won and lost. Which calls qualify, whether an autodialer or prerecorded voice was used, whether consent existed, and whether the conduct was willful are all facts a court weighs. An attorney handles that part.
So treat the per-call math as a way to understand scale, not a promise. Every case is different, and prior results don’t guarantee an outcome.
Related: TCPA statutory damages · Willful violation damages · What is my claim worth? · TCPA penalties
Real results, real citations
Actual TCPA recoveries Max has helped secure.
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.
Calculating TCPA damages: FAQs
How are TCPA damages calculated?
Count the illegal calls and multiply by $500, or by $1,500 if the violations were willful. Each call is a separate violation, so the totals stack. In Higgs v. Golden Title Loans, 385 calls times $1,500 came to $577,500.
What does it mean that violations “stack”?
Each illegal call is counted on its own, so the dollar amounts add up across the whole campaign instead of being capped at one payment. A hundred illegal calls means a hundred $500 violations, not a single one.
When does the $1,500 rate apply?
When a court finds the violation was willful or knowing, it can triple the $500 baseline to $1,500 per call. Calls that continued after you told the company to stop are the clearest example. It’s the court’s decision, not automatic.
Does the math work the same in a class action?
The per-call logic is the same, but it’s multiplied across thousands of people, which is how class actions reach the millions, like the $2.6M in Lucas v. Synchrony Bank. The total is then divided among class members.
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