New Mexico’s telephone solicitation law, NMSA 1978 § 57-12-22, is part of the state’s Unfair Practices Act. It bars sales calls before 9:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m., requires naming the sponsor and purpose within fifteen seconds, and limits prerecorded sales messages. A violation can support a private suit for $100 or actual damages, plus attorney fees for a winning plaintiff. But the remedy section has conditions federal TCPA claims don’t, and they give a defendant real room to work.
What does New Mexico’s telephone solicitation law require?
Eight rules for every sales call, plus limits on robocalls and do-not-call numbers. Under NMSA § 57-12-22(B), it’s unlawful to make a telephone solicitation “without disclosing within fifteen seconds of the time the person being called answers the name of the sponsor and the primary purpose of the contact.”
The same subsection bars calls placed “under the guise of research or a survey when the real intent is to sell goods or services,” and, under subsection (B)(2), calls that misrepresent a sales pitch as a “courtesy call” or a “public service information call.” It also requires disclosing the cost and terms of the sale, including extra charges, before the customer commits, and it bars asking for a credit card number before the buyer has said they want to pay that way.
Two rules are aimed at dialing equipment. A dialer must release the line “when the called party disconnects,” and a predictive dialer can’t leave a connected person waiting longer than the federal Telemarketing Sales Rule allows. A company that already follows the federal abandoned-call limits is usually covered on that point.
What are New Mexico’s calling hours?
Nine to nine. Under § 57-12-22(B)(5), it’s unlawful to make a telephone solicitation for a purchase of goods or services that is “received before 9:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m.” Federal rules in 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(c)(1) allow solicitations from 8 a.m., so a dialer set to the federal window is out of step with New Mexico for an hour each morning.
The statute speaks of when calls are “received,” which points to the called party’s local time. New Mexico runs on Mountain Time, and a national campaign that schedules by the caller’s time zone can miss the window without anyone noticing. A state-specific start time in the dialer, with a saved record of the setting, is the cheapest fix in this whole area.
Does New Mexico restrict robocalls and do-not-call numbers?
Yes, and more tightly than the federal rules in one respect. Under § 57-12-22(A), a person “shall not utilize an automated telephone dialing or push-button or tone-activated address signaling system with a prerecorded message to solicit persons to purchase goods or services unless there is an established business relationship between the persons and the person being called consents to hear the prerecorded message.” A prerecorded message is a recording played to the person who answers, and New Mexico requires both conditions, not one or the other.
The do-not-call rule follows the National Do Not Call Registry, the federal list of numbers whose owners don’t want sales calls. Under § 57-12-22(C)(1), it’s unlawful to call “a residential subscriber whose telephone number has been on the national do-not-call registry, established by the federal trade commission, for at least three months prior to the date the call is made.” Subsection (C)(2) separately bars blocking or circumventing a subscriber’s caller ID.
That three-month lag is a useful fact. A number registered only weeks before a call isn’t covered by the state rule, though the federal rule may still reach it. Registration dates are worth pulling early in any New Mexico do-not-call claim.
Which calls are exempt in New Mexico?
The exemptions live in the definition of “telephone solicitation.” Under § 57-12-22(D)(4), the term doesn’t include a call made with the subscriber’s “prior express invitation or permission,” a call by a business with an established business relationship, calls made “for the sole purpose of urging support for or opposition to a political candidate or ballot issue,” or polling calls. A resident, licensed real estate broker calling about a property listing is also exempt.
The established business relationship is defined more narrowly than its federal counterpart. Under § 57-12-22(D)(1), the relationship must have been formed through “a voluntary, two-way communication” and must exist now or have “existed within the immediately preceding twelve months.” The federal definition in 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(f)(5) runs eighteen months from a purchase. A former customer who bought fifteen months ago can fall inside the federal exemption and outside New Mexico’s.
Does the law cover cell phones?
The text points toward landlines, but a federal court that decided the question in 2019 went the other way. The statute protects a “residential subscriber,” defined as someone who subscribes to “residential telephone service from a local exchange company.” In Mohon v. Agentra LLC, 400 F. Supp. 3d 1189 (D.N.M. 2019), the court agreed that “wireless telephone users do not subscribe to local exchange companies.”
It still let the cell phone claim proceed. The Mohon court wrote, “The Court predicts that the Supreme Court of New Mexico would permit wireless telephone users to bring claims under the NMUPA’s § 57-12-22(C)(1).” It also held that the fifteen-second disclosure rule in subsection (B)(1), which doesn’t use the term “residential subscriber,” isn’t limited to residential lines at all.
That’s a federal court’s forecast of state law, and it doesn’t bind New Mexico’s state courts. The Legislature has also left the “local exchange company” language in place. A 2020 bill, House Bill 78, was introduced “expanding the restrictions on telephone solicitations to include wireless and voice over internet protocol voice services,” and the statute’s history line still shows 2003 as its last amendment. In state court, the landline argument remains worth making. In federal court in New Mexico, a defendant should expect Mohon to be followed.
What can a plaintiff recover under New Mexico law?
A small statutory amount, but with fee exposure that changes the math. Under NMSA § 57-12-10(B), “Any person who suffers any loss of money or property, real or personal, as a result of” a practice the Act declares unlawful “may bring an action to recover actual damages or the sum of one hundred dollars ($100), whichever is greater.” If the violation was willful, the court may award “up to three times actual damages or three hundred dollars ($300), whichever is greater.”
Fees are the bigger number. Under § 57-12-10(C), the court “shall award attorney fees and costs” to a prevailing plaintiff. The same subsection protects defendants too: the court shall award fees and costs to the defendant “if it finds that the party complaining of such trade practice brought an action that was groundless.”
The state can seek more. Under § 57-12-11, when a court finds a willful violation in an attorney general action, the state may recover “a civil penalty of not exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000) per violation.”
| Claim | Rule | Private exposure | Defenses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales call before 9 a.m. or after 9 p.m. | § 57-12-22(B)(5) | $100 or actual damages, up to $300 or treble if willful, plus the plaintiff’s fees | Call times in local time, exemption, no loss of money or property |
| No sponsor or purpose disclosure in 15 seconds | § 57-12-22(B)(1) | Same | Scripts, call recordings, opening timing |
| Prerecorded sales message | § 57-12-22(A) | Same | Established business relationship plus consent, not a sales message |
| Call to a number on the national registry | § 57-12-22(C)(1) | Same | Registration less than three months before the call, permission, business relationship, landline argument |
| Attorney general enforcement | § 57-12-11 | Civil penalty up to $5,000 per willful violation | Exemptions, compliance records, no willfulness |
| Federal Do Not Call claim | 47 U.S.C. § 227(c)(5) | Up to $500 per violation, up to $1,500 if willful or knowing | Safe harbor procedures, consent, business relationship |
Where are the defenses in a New Mexico claim?
In the remedy section, more often than in the conduct. Three features of § 57-12-10 deserve attention in every case.
First, the private claim belongs to a person who “suffers any loss of money or property.” An unwanted call costs the recipient time and annoyance, but whether that’s a loss of money or property is a fair fight. A defendant should press the point early instead of conceding it.
Second, class exposure is limited. Under § 57-12-10(E), in a class action the court “may award damages to the named plaintiffs as provided in Subsection B” but may award class members only “such actual damages as were suffered by each member of the class.” The $100 floor doesn’t multiply across the class. That’s a sharp contrast with the federal TCPA, and it’s the main reason New Mexico counts usually ride along with a federal claim rather than drive the case.
Third, either side can ask for early mediation. Under § 57-12-10(F), a party may request in writing, within thirty days after service, that the parties “attempt to settle the claim in early mediation.” When the plaintiff’s own exposure on fees is part of the calculation, an early, structured settlement conversation is often worth requesting.
What to collect when a New Mexico solicitation claim arrives
The TCPA litigation defense page describes how these state claims are usually joined with federal counts. The records that answer one usually answer both.
- Place a litigation hold on the call and text logs, dialer data, and consent records for each New Mexico number in the claim.
- Pull the internal do-not-call list and any stop request from the claimant, with the date it came in.
- Collect the National Do Not Call Registry downloads used for the campaign, with version dates, and the registration date for each number at issue.
- Gather the call scripts, any recorded messages, the dialer’s time-zone settings, and the contracts with any vendor that placed the calls.
- Talk to a lawyer before answering a demand letter, contacting the caller’s lawyer, or offering money to settle.
Questions about New Mexico’s telemarketing law
Does New Mexico have its own do-not-call list?
No. New Mexico’s Consumer No-Call Act was repealed in 2003, according to the compiler’s annotation to § 57-12-22. The state rule now borrows the National Do Not Call Registry, and it applies to numbers that have been on that registry for at least three months before the call. A company that scrubs against the federal registry and keeps its scrub records has most of what it needs for New Mexico.
Do New Mexico’s rules apply to text messages?
The statute doesn’t mention texts. Section 57-12-22(D)(4) defines a telephone solicitation as “a voice or telefacsimile communication over a telephone line.” A plain marketing text is neither a voice call nor a fax, which gives a defendant a strong textual argument under state law. Federal law is a different question, and the overview of business phone numbers and the TCPA covers how federal courts treat the lines involved.
Does the law reach companies outside New Mexico?
The statute isn’t limited to callers located in the state. Its rules attach to a solicitation of a New Mexico subscriber, and the hours rule looks to when the call is “received.” A national calling program that reaches New Mexico numbers should build in the 9 a.m. start and the fifteen-second disclosure. The firm’s guide to telemarketer identification rules covers the matching federal disclosure duties.
If your company is defending a New Mexico call claim
If your company is accused of calling New Mexico numbers outside the 9-to-9 window or without the required disclosures, the call times and the opening of each recorded call usually decide the case. Rosenberger + Kawabata represents businesses defending TCPA lawsuits and class actions through its business litigation practice, including claims involving state calling-hours and disclosure rules. Contact Rosenberger + Kawabata online for a confidential consultation, or call (310) 894-6921.
Sources
New Mexico’s telephone solicitation rules are in NMSA 1978 § 57-12-22, with private remedies in § 57-12-10 and civil penalties in § 57-12-11. The 2020 wireless bill is House Bill 78. The case is Mohon v. Agentra LLC, 400 F. Supp. 3d 1189 (D.N.M. 2019). The federal law is 47 U.S.C. § 227 and 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200.
This post is general information about the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and related laws as of June 11, 2026. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Courts and the FCC change the rules in this area often, and the outcome of any claim depends on its facts. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.