TCPA litigator scrub: what it screens, and what it can't protect you from
15 min read2 court opinions5 vendors read
For the owner or ops lead deciding whether to add a litigator list to their calling or texting checks: what the list is, how vendors build it, why it is not a safe harbor, and when it is worth paying for. Rules, court opinions and vendor pages read on 2026-10-22.
What a litigator scrub is
A litigator scrub runs your calling or texting list against a vendor's database of numbers tied to people who have filed suits under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, then flags or removes the matches. It is a business filter sold by compliance vendors. No federal rule asks for it, and passing it proves nothing about whether a call was lawful.
What each check protects you from
Seven checks a calling or texting program can run, the rule behind each, and the claim a clean result answers. The middle column uses the same four words as our TCPA compliance software comparison: a safe harbor excuses a mistake, a requirement is a duty, evidence is what you show, and a risk filter only changes who you reach.
| Check | Rule | What it is | What a clean result answers | What it leaves open |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National DNC scrub | 47 CFR § 64.1200(c)(2)(i) | Safe harbor | A telephone solicitation to a registered number made in error, if all five parts are in place, including a registry copy no more than 31 days old | The autodialer and prerecorded-voice consent rules: § 227(c)(6) says the do-not-call rules permit nothing those forbid |
| Internal do-not-call list | 47 CFR § 64.1200(d)(3), (d)(6) | Required | Calls to people who asked you to stop: honoured within 10 business days, kept for 5 years | Nothing on its own: it is a duty, and one of the five parts of the safe harbor |
| FCC reassigned-number query | 47 CFR § 64.1200(m) | Safe harbor | A call to a number that changed hands since consent, if you queried with the consent date and the database wrongly answered "no" | The do-not-call rules: it covers the consent rules in (a)(1) to (a)(3) only |
| Consent record | 47 CFR § 64.1200(f)(9) | Evidence | The claim that you had no permission: the signed agreement, the number it covers and the disclosure the person saw | Calls outside the hours, or after the person revoked consent |
| Line type (wireless or landline) | 47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(1)(A)(iii) | Evidence | Which numbers need prior express consent before an autodialed or prerecorded call | Anything by itself: the flag proves nothing about consent |
| Calling window | 47 CFR § 64.1200(c)(1) | Required | Solicitations before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. at the called party's location; some states set a narrower window | Consent and do-not-call claims |
| Litigator scrub | No rule | Risk filter | Fewer calls to people on that vendor's list | Any claim: a call that breaks a rule is still a violation, whoever answers. People not on the list can sue too |
The litigator scrub is the only row with no rule behind it. That is not a reason to skip it; it is a reason to buy it last, after the rows that change your legal position.
Why it is not a legal defence
A TCPA claim asks one question about the call: did it break a rule? The person who answered does not change the answer. The statute lets “a person or entity” who got an unlawful robocall or robotext sue (47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(3)), and nothing in it turns on whether that person has sued before.
The federal rules name two places where a business is excused for a mistake. The first is the do-not-call safe harbor, which holds only for a violation that is “the result of error” and only with all five parts in place: written procedures, trained staff, a recorded list of numbers you may not contact, a registry copy no more than 31 days old with records of the process, and registry data used only for compliance.
“It uses a process to prevent telephone solicitations to any telephone number on any list established pursuant to the do-not-call rules, employing a version of the national do-not-call registry obtained from the administrator of the registry no more than 31 days prior to the date any call is made, and maintains records documenting this process.”
The second is the Reassigned Numbers Database. A caller is protected for a call to a number that changed hands if “(1) it obtained consent from the intended call recipient; (2) it or its duly authorized agent checked the database prior to calling the number to verify that the number had not been permanently disconnected, or reassigned, after the date the caller obtained consent; and (3) the database returned a query response of “no” that was incorrect” (§ 64.1200(m)). For do-not-call suits, the statute adds an affirmative defence for a seller that has “established and implemented, with due care, reasonable practices and procedures” to prevent violations (§ 227(c)(5)).
A litigator screen appears in none of them. It sorts your list; it does not change what the law asks of each call. Skip every plaintiff on a vendor's list while texting strangers without consent, and every stranger can still bring the claim. Maine does write a database check into its telephone-solicitation law, and the database it names is the reassigned-numbers database, not a litigator list (10 M.R.S. § 1499-B(6)).
How vendors build their lists
There is no official litigator list. Each vendor compiles its own from court filings, decides who belongs on it, and sells the result as a scrub. Here is how five of them describe theirs, in their own words where we quote.
| Vendor | Where the list comes from | How you tune it | How it runs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blacklist Alliance | In-house researchers who, in its words, "analyze every TCPA lawsuit" to find numbers to add | Feeds graded by an accuracy-versus-risk score, each switched on or off. Through ActiveProspect's LeadConduit add-on, feeds such as Primary Plaintiff and Primary Attorney return a risk level on a 0 to 30 scale | API in real time or batch; the same scrub can cover your internal list, the national registry and state lists |
| Contact Center Compliance (DNC.com) | Litigator Insights is "updated in real-time from original court documents"; each number is matched against a case file | Flag or remove the matches | Batch or REST API, run alongside wireless, VoIP and do-not-call scrubs; for inbound and outbound campaigns |
| PossibleNOW | Public records of consumers and attorneys who filed class actions against telemarketers, collection agencies or credit issuers, from U.S. federal courts, excluding bankruptcy court | An optional list inside its DNCSolution do-not-contact application | With the DNCSolution scrub |
| Gryphon | A database of known litigators and professional plaintiffs; the page does not say how it is built, so check with the vendor | "Customizable settings" | Blocks matching calls in real time |
| RealPhoneValidation | A TCPA Known Litigator check included in its DNC Lookup; the page does not say how the list is built, so check with the vendor | Check with the vendor | Batch file or real-time API, in the same lookup as the do-not-call and phone-type checks |
Read 2026-10-22. DNC.com (Contact Center Compliance) and Blacklist Alliance are both part of Sonera.
Most of these vendors sell the scrub inside a wider do-not-call service, which is where it belongs. The tools that run all of the checks side by side are in the DNC scrubbing software comparison.
The open question: screening people for having sued
Litigator lists rest on a judgment that some plaintiffs are not ordinary consumers. Courts have reached both answers on that question, and the split explains why people disagree about the lists themselves.
One line of cases treats a business of suing as outside what the TCPA protects. In Stoops v. Wells Fargo, the plaintiff had bought at least 35 cell phones with prepaid minutes to file TCPA suits, and the court held she had no standing:
“it is unfathomable that Congress considered a consumer who files TCPA actions as a business when it enacted the TCPA”
Another line refuses to count the number of suits against the person filing them. In Cunningham v. Montes, the defendants pointed to more than 150 earlier lawsuits; the court still found a real injury and distinguished Stoops on its facts, because this plaintiff denied buying his phones to sue:
“Cunningham's participation in other TCPA suits, even a large number of them, does not mean that he has suffered no real injury”
Vendors sell to the first view: their pages describe serial plaintiffs who look for calls to sue over. Critics take the second: a number lands on a list because its owner used a right the statute gives (§ 227(b)(3)), and people who won fair cases are screened out with the rest. Neither court ruled on litigator lists, and no FCC rule we read mentions them. What both opinions agree on is the point this page keeps making: in Montes no one disputed that the calls broke the TCPA, and the defence that won in Stoopswas about the plaintiff, not the caller's compliance.
Where it fits in the scrub order
A litigator screen is step four of six, after the checks that carry legal weight. The order matters because each step needs the one before it: the reassigned-number query needs the consent date, and a list you will screen should already be clean of numbers you may not call.
Steps two and three have their own guides: the Reassigned Numbers Database covers the subscription and the three possible answers, and Do Not Call rules for business covers the registry and the internal list. State windows and call caps are in mini-TCPA state laws.
Should a small business pay for one?
Often not first, sometimes not at all. A litigator screen is worth most to a business that calls or texts numbers it did not collect itself, at volume, with consent and do-not-call already handled. For a shop texting its own opted-in customers, the money usually does more in records.
Should we pay for a litigator scrub?
Answer for the list you are about to call or text.
Our reading
Probably not worth paying for
Your numbers come from people who asked to hear from you, you can prove it, and your do-not-call process is in place. A hit on a list like yours would mostly flag your own customers. If your do-not-call lookup already includes a litigator check, use it to flag, not to delete.
Next step: Spend on records and the calling window instead
No rule requires it
Whatever you decide, write it into your procedures: which lists you scrub, when, and what happens to a hit. The do-not-call safe harbor asks for written procedures and trained staff, and the TCPA compliance checklist walks the rest of the program. For proof of consent, start with the prior express written consent guide. This is not legal advice.
Questions owners ask
What is a TCPA litigator list?
A vendor's database of phone numbers tied to people who have filed suits under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and on some lists to the attorneys who file them. A litigator scrub runs your calling or texting list against it and flags or removes the matches. Each vendor builds its own list, so two lists will not match.
Is a litigator scrub required by law?
No rule we read requires one. The federal rules set two safe harbors: the national do-not-call scrub with written procedures, trained staff, an internal list and a registry copy no more than 31 days old (47 CFR § 64.1200(c)(2)(i)), and the FCC Reassigned Numbers Database (§ 64.1200(m)). Maine adds a duty to check the reassigned-numbers database before telephone sales calls. A litigator screen appears in none of them.
Does a litigator scrub protect me from a TCPA lawsuit?
It lowers the chance of calling or texting someone on that vendor's list, and nothing more. The TCPA lets any person or entity who received an unlawful call sue (47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(3)), whether or not they have sued before, and the damages do not change: $500 per call or text, up to three times that ($1,500) if the court finds the violation willful or knowing. Consent and a clean do-not-call process are what make a call lawful.
Can I refuse to call someone because they have sued before?
The TCPA restricts calls you make, not calls you choose not to make, and neither the statute nor the FCC rules we read require or forbid a litigator screen. Whether screening people for using a legal right is fair is argued both ways, and courts have split on frequent filers. This page reads the TCPA only; other laws that govern your industry are outside it.
How often are litigator lists updated?
Each vendor sets its own pace. Contact Center Compliance says Litigator Insights is updated in real time from original court documents; Blacklist Alliance says its researchers analyse every TCPA lawsuit. Neither page gives a lag in days, so ask the vendor how soon a new filing reaches the list.
Should I delete a customer who shows up on a litigator list?
That is a business call, not a legal one. If the customer opted in to your messages and you can produce the record, the call is lawful whoever answers it. Contact Center Compliance and Blacklist Alliance both describe flagging matches, so a person can look at a hit before you drop a customer who asked to hear from you.
Sources
- 47 U.S.C. § 227 (govinfo, 2023 edition)fetched 2026-10-22
- 47 CFR § 64.1200 (eCFR, current as of 2026-10-20)fetched 2026-10-22
- FCC, Reassigned Numbers Databasefetched 2026-10-22
- 10 M.R.S. § 1499-B (Maine do-not-call and reassigned numbers)fetched 2026-10-22
- Stoops v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 197 F. Supp. 3d 782 (W.D. Pa. 2016), memorandum opinionfetched 2026-10-22
- Cunningham v. Montes, 378 F. Supp. 3d 741 (W.D. Wis. 2019), opinion and orderfetched 2026-10-22
- Blacklist Alliance, Litigation Firewallfetched 2026-10-22
- Blacklist Alliance, home page (litigator scrub, Sonera banner)fetched 2026-10-22
- ActiveProspect, Blacklist Alliance Add-Ons (LeadConduit)fetched 2026-10-22
- Contact Center Compliance (DNC.com), Litigator Insightsfetched 2026-10-22
- PossibleNOW, TCPA Litigator Listfetched 2026-10-22
- Gryphon, compliance (Litigator Defense)fetched 2026-10-22
- RealPhoneValidation, Do Not Call list scrubbingfetched 2026-10-22