TCPA class actions set a Q1 record — even as the growth rate cools

Eric Troutman’s TCPAWorld has the numbers, and they are eye-watering: more TCPA class actions were filed in the first quarter of 2026 than in any quarter in history, with March alone setting records at 283 cases filed and 220 of them class actions. Troutman — whose firm defends TCPA cases and keeps its own count alongside WebRecon’s — frames each as potential multi-billion-dollar exposure.

The wrinkle worth noting is in the rate of change. Despite the record raw totals, year-over-year growth is actually decelerating: March ran “only” 17.6% above March 2025, and Q1 as a whole about 19% ahead of last year — a smaller jump than 2025’s surge over 2024. So the level is at an all-time high while the acceleration eases; both are true, and the litigation-defense framing naturally leans on the scarier of the two.

Why it matters for the trust beat: TCPA exposure, not any single FCC order, is the lever that actually disciplines calling and texting practice — consent, revocation, DNC scrubbing — across every A2P and outbound program. Troutman also notes the NCLC is pushing Congress to expand the statute to allow still more class actions. The legislative and docket detail is Regulatory Watch territory; the signal here is that the private right of action remains the sharpest edge of robocall enforcement — record-setting even as it decelerates.