With the Texas telemarketing registration rules recently amended to make them even more dangerous it is important for companies making marketing calls and texts– yes, even consented marketing calls and texts– to understand the ground rules.

Among the thicket of provisions in the Texas regulation are a series of exemptions for licensed businesses– including insurers. But do those exemptions mean what they say?

Well in Sutton v. Senior Life Insurance Company, 2026 WL 1611881 (W.D. Tex. June 1, 2026) the court applied the exemption of Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 302.053(3) to conclude the Defendant could not be liable for a registration violation:

Plaintiff also claims Defendant violated TBCC § 302.101 by calling her without a telephone solicitation registration certificate.
But the registration requirement “does not apply to … a person who holds a license issued under the Insurance Code if the
transaction is governed by that code.” 13 Defendant is licensed to sell life insurance under the insurance code, 14 and Plaintiff
pleads that the call advertised life insurance, 15 so Plaintiff cannot state a viable claim under § 302.101 based on a call from
Defendant or its agents.

Interesting, no?

Unfortunately for the defendant it lost on the remaining claims- including a TCPA claim for use of prerecorded calls. This portion of the ruling is particularly disappointing because the allegations of the complaint stated only that Defendant had hired “John Doe” to provide transfer leads– and it is unclear whether the court is suggesting a direct or vicarious liability theory is viable here. It seems neither should be. Tough loss on that issue for the defense.

But focusing on the positive– its nice to have a case in hand applying the Texas registration exemptions as written.