Can I sue someone for harassing me over text?
Asked by: Ms. Rhea Schmeler | Last update: February 3, 2026Score: 4.9/5 (26 votes)
Yes, you can often sue someone for harassing you over text, especially if the messages are threatening, repeatedly unwanted, discriminatory, or cause significant emotional distress, potentially leading to claims like defamation or stalking, but it depends on the severity and context, requiring strong evidence like saved texts, and often involves police involvement or obtaining a restraining order first, notes.
Can I sue someone for harassment by text?
Harassing messages sometimes rise to a level at which you can sue a harasser or abuser in civil court. A victim may also have a claim for defamation or libel in connection with Internet misconduct, if the harassing messages were sent to third parties.
What is considered harassment through text messages?
Text harassment involves repeated, unwanted, and offensive messages intended to alarm, annoy, or threaten someone, including threats of harm, obscene content, cyberstalking, or persistent unwanted contact after being told to stop, creating fear or significant emotional distress, and can range from workplace bullying to criminal behavior. What constitutes harassment depends on intent and impact, but generally includes any electronic communication that makes a reasonable person feel threatened, abused, or intimidated.
What proof do you need to sue for harassment?
To sue for harassment, you need credible evidence proving severe or pervasive offensive conduct created a hostile environment, including detailed logs (dates, times, incidents), digital communications (texts, emails), witness statements, and potentially photos, recordings, or medical records, all showing a pattern that affected your ability to work or live, supported by documentation of your complaints to management or HR.
What to do when someone harasses you by text?
If you receive harassing texts, document all messages and block the sender. Report the harassment to local law enforcement, especially if threats or obsession are involved. Consider seeking a protective order if the behavior continues. Mental health issues of the harasser do not excuse harassment.
Texting turns into harassment
Do police take text harassment seriously?
In an age when nearly every conversation leaves a digital trace, a single message can carry serious legal consequences. Many people assume texting is casual or private, but Texas law doesn't treat it that way. When a text message crosses into a threat, harassment, or solicitation, it can trigger criminal charges.
What evidence do I need for text harassment?
To prove text harassment, you need to gather and organize evidence like screenshots of the entire conversation (including dates/times/numbers), create a timeline of incidents, document requests to stop, and note any threats or escalating behavior, possibly with witness info, to present to authorities or a lawyer. The key is to provide tangible proof, not just allegations, showing a pattern of unwanted communication that causes distress or fear, according to legal sources.
Is it worth suing for harassment?
Suing for harassment can be "worth it" if you have strong evidence, suffered significant damages (lost wages, emotional distress), and are motivated for accountability and compensation, but it's a difficult, lengthy process requiring strong "selfish" motivation (like money or justice) alongside a desire to stop future harm; it's best to consult an attorney to assess your case's strength and potential outcomes, as settlements vary widely.
What are the 9 grounds of harassment?
Harassment that is based on the following grounds— marital status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age disability, race, or Traveller community ground— is a form of discrimination in relation to conditions of employment. What is sexual harassment? S23 EE Act.
How many texts until it's harassment?
There's no magic number of texts for harassment, as it depends on content, frequency, and impact, but generally, repeated, unwanted messages that cause you distress, anxiety, or fear are considered harassment, especially after you've asked them to stop. While a single threatening text can be harassment, multiple, persistent, non-threatening texts can also qualify, with legal definitions often requiring at least two related incidents (a "course of conduct") that a reasonable person would find alarming or distressing.
Can I report harassment to the police?
You can report for yourself, for someone else or as a witness. We'll investigate whatever you tell us and we'll let you know what steps we'll take next.
Can I report harassing text messages?
Types of Crime Reports That Can Be Filed Online: Harassing Phone Calls: Any person who repeatedly, with the intent to annoy, telephones or makes contact by means of an electronic communication. For example, immediate hang-ups, obscene language, emails, text messages with no known suspects.
Can you press charges on someone who keeps texting you?
The law says that it's illegal for a person to repeatedly send someone texts (or rather electronic communications in general). For your actions to be considered a crime, the person you sent the messages to must have been affected somehow.
Is it hard to prove online harassment?
It can be difficult for law enforcement officials to investigate cases of cyberstalking or cyber harassment, or to successfully prosecute someone for online behavior.
Do text messages hold up in court?
Yes, text messages absolutely hold up in court and are common digital evidence, but they must be authenticated (proven genuine and unaltered), relevant to the case, and legally obtained, with courts often preferring original data over potentially edited screenshots to ensure accuracy and context. Deleted messages can often be recovered, making evidence tampering difficult, and require proper legal process like warrants for access.
What kind of proof do you need for harassment?
To prove harassment, you need a detailed log of incidents (dates, times, locations, what happened), supported by tangible evidence like emails, texts, photos, videos, and witness statements, plus documentation of your complaints and the harasser's responses, showing the conduct was unwelcome, severe/pervasive, and based on a protected characteristic (like sex, race, etc.). Medical records showing impact and formal reports to HR/police also significantly strengthen a case.
How hard is it to win a harassment case?
Yes, winning a harassment case is often hard because it requires strong, documented evidence to overcome "he said, she said" situations, proving the conduct was severe or pervasive enough to be legally actionable, and navigating complex laws, but it's possible with solid proof like emails, witnesses, and expert legal guidance. Cases are challenging due to subjective elements, the need for concrete proof, and legal standards that require pervasive or severe behavior for a hostile work environment claim.
What is the 80% rule in discrimination?
The 80% Rule, or Four-Fifths Rule, is an EEOC guideline to spot potential hiring discrimination: if a protected group (like a race, sex, or ethnic group) is selected at less than 80% the rate of the most favored group, it suggests "adverse impact," requiring the employer to justify the practice as job-related and necessary. It's a statistical tool, not definitive proof, indicating when further investigation into disparate impact is warranted in employment decisions.
What is the average payout for harassment?
Settlements Vs.
While the average settlement is under $37,000, another study found that when harassment lawsuits go to trial, the average payout increases to $217,000. This considerable difference is partly because cases that are deemed severe are more likely to require a court trial to prove.
Can you sue for harassment without proof?
Many workers in California fear the court will not take their claim seriously if no one saw what happened, especially if they are going against someone powerful. But the truth is, you can prove harassment even without witnesses.
What are the odds of winning a lawsuit?
The chances of winning a lawsuit vary greatly, but most personal injury cases (90-95%) settle out of court; for those that go to trial, plaintiffs win roughly 50-60% of the time, with car accidents having higher success rates (~61%) and medical malpractice cases having lower ones (~27-37%). Key factors influencing your odds include clear liability (proof the other party was at fault), strength of evidence (medical records, photos, witnesses), the type of case, and having an experienced lawyer.
What kind of text is considered harassment?
Text harassment involves repeated, unwanted, and offensive messages intended to alarm, annoy, or threaten someone, including threats of harm, obscene content, cyberstalking, or persistent unwanted contact after being told to stop, creating fear or significant emotional distress, and can range from workplace bullying to criminal behavior. What constitutes harassment depends on intent and impact, but generally includes any electronic communication that makes a reasonable person feel threatened, abused, or intimidated.
Can screenshots of texts be used as evidence?
Yes, screenshots of messages can be used as evidence, but they are often considered weak or unreliable on their own because they can be easily edited, cropped, or taken out of context, making them difficult to authenticate; courts prefer original messages with complete metadata (dates, times, sender info) and often require extra proof, like testimony or forensic analysis, to confirm they are genuine.
How many times can someone text you before it's harassment?
There's no magic number of texts for harassment, as it depends on content, frequency, and impact, but generally, repeated, unwanted messages that cause you distress, anxiety, or fear are considered harassment, especially after you've asked them to stop. While a single threatening text can be harassment, multiple, persistent, non-threatening texts can also qualify, with legal definitions often requiring at least two related incidents (a "course of conduct") that a reasonable person would find alarming or distressing.