McGuireWoods Consulting and the E-Commerce Innovation Alliance (EIA) successfully spearheaded the passage of legislation during the 2025 Virginia general session that is aimed at curbing litigation related to text message solicitations.
Sponsored by Sen. Dave Marsden, D-Fairfax, Senate Bill (SB) 1339 expounds upon the Virginia Telephone Privacy Protection Act (VTPPA) by addressing “critical loopholes and ambiguities” that have resulted in excessive lawsuits against e-commerce businesses. The bill becomes effective on Jan. 1, 2026.
Two members of the McGuireWoods Consulting’s Virginia government relations team, director Tray Adams and senior vice president Fran Bradford, led this legislative advocacy effort.
VTPPA permits an individual receiving a telephone solicitation via text message to request not to receive such messages from a telemarketers by replying to such text message with the word “UNSUBSCRIBE” or “STOP.” The bill requires a telephone solicitor in receipt of such request to honor such request for at least 10 years from the time such request is made.
The VTPPA was put into effect in 2001 and requires that telemarketers identify themselves by first and last name, prohibiting calls to numbers that had requested not to be contacted, imposing calling time restrictions, and establishing statutory damages ranging from $500 for each violation up to $1,000 for each willful violation. In 2020, the act was amended to include text messaging and raised violation fines to up to $5,000.
“Since the 2020 amendment, this broad definition has enabled serial plaintiffs to exploit the VTPPA by filing frivolous and costly lawsuits against businesses across the country,” said EIA president and CEO, David Carter.
Efforts from plaintiffs have included circumventing opt-out commands like “STOP” and “UNSUBSCRIBE” or claiming company names in these messages do not qualify as first and last name.
SB 1339 clarifies these discrepancies to curb unnecessary litigation.
Carter highlights EIA’s focus on protecting e-commerce businesses models and fostering growth.
“The EIA’s efforts in championing and solidifying the passage of this bill underscores our unwavering commitment to establishing a fairer and more predictable legal environment for e-commerce businesses,” Carter said. “The support and guidance Fran Bradford and Tray Adams so skillfully provided were critical to our success in addressing the issue of abusive litigation in a state with the most stringent telephone privacy law in the country.”
