If I pay a TCPA demand, am I admitting guilt?
No. A settlement is a private release with no admission of liability. A judgment is a public finding against you. The release should say "no admission", name every listed call, and state the period it covers.
No. Paying to resolve a demand is a settlement, and a settlement is a contract: the person called releases their claim for the listed calls in exchange for payment, and the document says, in a standard clause, that nothing in it is an admission of liability. Nothing is filed. Nothing appears on a docket. A judgment, by contrast, is a court's public finding that the business violated the statute, and it is the alternative to a settlement if the matter is contested and lost.
What the release should contain
- The parties, including any affiliates and vendors you want covered.
- Every call and text in the letter, by number and date, or the period and numbers covered.
- A release of all claims under the TCPA and any state statute arising from those calls.
- A no-admission clause.
- The payment terms, and if instalments, what happens on a missed one.
- Confidentiality, if you want it.
Read it before paying. A payment with no release, or with a release that names only some of the calls, buys less than you think. Ask for the draft release with your counter, as described in can I negotiate the amount in a TCPA demand letter.
What the release does not do
It does not cover other people the campaign reached; each has their own claim. It does not cover calls made after it. It does not fix the practice that produced the letter. The reason businesses receive a second letter is not that they paid the first; it is that the dialer kept running on the same list. See should I settle.
People also ask
Will the settlement be public?
No filing, no docket, no public record. If you want confidentiality, ask for a clause. A filed case is public from the complaint onward.
Does the release stop other people suing?
No. It releases the claims of the person named, for the calls and period named. Other recipients of the same campaign have their own claims. The fix for that is the campaign, not the release.
Can the same person come back for more?
Not for the released calls and period. For calls after the release, yes, which is why the numbers stay suppressed.