Connor v. ServiceQuick: When One Long Text Counts as Two

The 227-Character Problem

The TCPA's Do Not Call Registry private right of action requires "more than one telephone call within any 12-month period by or on behalf of the same entity." The plaintiff alleged he got two marketing texts from a business software company while his number was on the registry, sent through the Woosender texting platform.

The software company, whose name the order spells ServiceQuik in the body, said there was really only one message of about 227 characters. Standard SMS caps each segment at 160 characters, so longer messages get split into segments and reassembled on the recipient's phone. The company pointed to a screenshot from a related state court case showing a single message on the plaintiff's screen.

The plaintiff pointed to his phone bill, which listed two separate messages. The court sided with him for now. Billing records are a legitimate way to count contacts, and the screenshot did not "utterly contradict" his allegation, especially given how complicated the back-end technology is. Whether a segmented message is one call or two is a fact fight for later.

Residential Number and Standing

The company also argued the plaintiff's number was listed on Google as a business line. That is a factual dispute, not a legal one. He alleged he uses the number for personal and household reasons, pays for it personally, and never registered it to a business, which was enough. The court noted the presumption that registry numbers are residential.

The company also argued he lacked a privacy interest based on his prior TCPA filings. The court said that might matter if he only had a generalized interest in punishing telemarketers or bought the phone to attract calls, but nothing showed that. He alleged unwanted, nonconsensual texts from companies he never did business with. That is a concrete injury under Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 578 U.S. 330 (2016).

The Platform Stays In

The more important holding for the industry is about the platform. Woosender argued the software company sent the texts, not it. But under the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 2013 Dish Network ruling, an entity "initiates" a call when it takes the steps necessary to physically place it. The plaintiff alleged that Woosender actually sent the messages from its own number and did far more than provide software, including setting up and supporting customer campaigns. That was enough to plead direct liability.

Woosender also wanted to strike an allegation that it hosts automated calling software. Motions to strike are disfavored, it did not show prejudice, and Rule 12(f) is not a tool for testing factual support, so that request failed too.

What It Means

Texting platforms that help design and run campaigns may be treated as the sender, not just the pipe. For businesses, a message over 160 characters may show up as two entries on a carrier bill, so keep messages short or be ready to litigate the count.

Read the District of Colorado order in Connor v. ServiceQuick.