Quick answer: CEMA (the Washington Commercial Electronic Mail Act) makes it illegal to send a commercial email or text with a false or misleading subject line to a Washington resident. It’s been on the books since 1998, but a 2025 court ruling opened the door to a wave of lawsuits, mostly against retailers so far. Real estate marketing is exposed because the law specifically names “real property” in its definition of what counts as a commercial message. If your emails or texts use false urgency language like “Open House This Weekend Only,” “Multiple Offers Already In,” or “Won’t Last,” and any Washington residents are on your list, this law applies to you.
What Is CEMA?
CEMA stands for the Commercial Electronic Mail Act, codified at RCW 19.190. It’s a Washington state law, not a federal one, and it’s been around since 1998, back when it was written to deal with dial-up era spam.
That changed on April 17, 2025, when the Washington Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Old Navy that any false or misleading information in a commercial email’s subject line violates CEMA, even if you did not suffer damages from the false claim. Before that ruling, only a handful of CEMA lawsuits had ever been filed. Since then, over 100 lawsuits have followed.
Why CEMA Matters for Real Estate Agents and Brokerages
Most coverage of CEMA treats it as a retail problem you’ve likely seen before: fake sale deadlines or a “50% off today only” that quietly becomes “50% off this week too.” That’s accurate, but there’s not much conversation around how this impacts real estate marketing specifically.
CEMA’s own definition of a “commercial electronic mail message” is an email “sent for the purpose of promoting real property, goods, or services for sale or lease.” Real property is named directly in the statute, right alongside goods and services. The law was written to cover exactly the kind of messages real estate marketing sends every day: listing alerts, price change notifications, open house reminders, saved-search emails, and other service offerings.
The same is true for text messages under a parallel provision of the law.
Timeline of CEMA Enforcement
- 1998 — CEMA is enacted in Washington state.
- April 17, 2025 — The Washington Supreme Court rules in Brown v. Old Navy that any false or misleading subject line violates CEMA, regardless of intent to disguise the email’s commercial nature.
- 2025 — Lawsuit filings under CEMA surge from roughly 8 total (pre-ruling) to over 100.
- September 2025 — The Washington Court of Appeals rules in Aaland v. CRST Home Solutions that recruitment text messages qualify as commercial electronic text messages under CEMA, because recruiting contributes to a business’s growth.
- January 2026 — A federal court denies Nike’s motion to dismiss in Ma v. Nike, confirming that CAN-SPAM does not preempt CEMA.
- March 23, 2026 — Governor Bob Ferguson signs HB 2274, amending CEMA. It updated the rules around what happens once a claim is brought to court.
- June 11, 2026 — The amendment takes effect.
What Changed with the 2026 Amendment (HB 2274)
Three things:
- A knowledge requirement. Plaintiffs must now show the sender had actual knowledge, or knowledge fairly implied from the circumstances, that the subject line was false or misleading. Before this, it was a strict liability standard.
- Lower damages. Statutory damages drop from $500 to $100 per violation.
- No retroactivity. The amendment only applies to cases filed on or after June 11, 2026.
Does CAN-SPAM Compliance Cover You?
No, and here’s why.
CAN-SPAM and CEMA aren’t solving the same problem. CAN-SPAM governs things like a working unsubscribe link, accurate sender information, and a valid physical address. CEMA governs whether the specific claim in your subject line is true when the recipient reads it. You can meet every CAN-SPAM requirement and still have a CEMA problem, because CEMA doesn’t check your unsubscribe link. It checks whether “Price Drop, Won’t Last!” is still accurate when someone opens the email.
CAN-SPAM also doesn’t address who counts as sending a “commercial” message in the first place, and CEMA’s read on that is broader than most people assume. Washington courts have already ruled that recruitment messages count as commercial under CEMA, reasoning that recruiting contributes to a business’s growth and prosperity, the same as any listing or sale would. That ruling was specifically about text messages, but the underlying definition it’s built on, “promoting services,” is written the same way for email. So a recruitment email is a reasonable candidate for the same subject line scrutiny as a listing alert: if you’re sending recruitment campaigns and the subject line makes any claim about opportunity, timing, or exclusivity, that claim needs to hold up the same way a listing claim would.
For more information about staying CAN-SPAM compliant, see our guide here.
What This Means for Your Real Estate Marketing, Channel by Channel
Email Subject Lines
The risk isn’t urgency itself, it’s a claim that’s false or manufactured at the time you send it:
- “Free This Weekend Only” on a home valuation tool that’s free every day
- “Multiple Offers Already In” sent as a template even if it’s inaccurate
- “Price Dropped Today” still going out weeks after the price actually changed
Referral and Recruitment Campaigns
CEMA’s consent requirement for recruitment messaging (the recipient must clearly and affirmatively opt in before you send) is written into the law specifically for text messages. It doesn’t extend the same way to email. But treating that as a green light for unsolicited recruitment emails would be a risky read of the law: courts have already shown they’re willing to treat recruitment messaging as commercial activity under CEMA, and the subject line accuracy rule applies to recruitment emails the same as anything else. The safer approach is to get the same kind of affirmative consent for email recruitment that the law already requires for text, rather than assuming the gap in the statute is a gap in your exposure.
Drip and Nurture Sequences
If a sequence repeats a “limited time” or urgency claim across multiple emails, each one is treated as a separate message and a separate potential violation.
A Practical CEMA Compliance Checklist for Brokerages
- Audit subject lines for any time-sensitive or scarcity language.
- Confirm those claims are still accurate at the point a recipient is likely to open the email, not just at send time.
- If you run referral or recruitment campaigns by text, confirm and document that recipients affirmatively opted in before you started sending.
- Keep a record of when subject line language was written and reviewed, since the amended law’s knowledge standard rewards being able to show you didn’t know a claim was false.
- Confirm which prong applies to you: sending from Washington puts your entire list in scope, sending to any Washington resident puts that email in scope, regardless of where you’re based. Most brokerages will only need to check the second one, but don’t assume, confirm it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CEMA a Federal Law?
No. CEMA is a Washington state law (RCW 19.190). It applies to messages sent to Washington residents, or from a computer located in Washington.
Does CAN-SPAM compliance mean I’m also CEMA compliant?
No. CAN-SPAM governs sender identification and opt-out mechanics. CEMA governs the accuracy of your subject line. They cover different things, and meeting one doesn’t satisfy the other.
Does CEMA apply to real estate marketing specifically?
Yes. CEMA’s statutory definition of a commercial electronic mail message explicitly includes messages promoting “real property… for sale or lease,” alongside goods and services.
What kind of subject lines are the highest risk?
Anything making a specific, factual claim about timing, price, or availability that’s false or manufactured at the time you send it: “Free This Weekend Only” on a valuation tool that’s always free, “Price Reduced Today” sent weeks after the price actually changed, “Won’t Last,” “Multiple Offers Already In” used as a template when it isn’t true. General enthusiasm (“Best Listings of the Year”) is generally treated as non-actionable puffery, while specific factual claims are not.
Do I need consent to send real estate recruitment texts to Washington residents?
Yes, for text messages specifically. CEMA requires the recipient to have clearly and affirmatively consented in advance before you send a commercial text message, and recruitment messaging counts. Email doesn’t carry that same statutory consent requirement, but treating that gap as a green light for unsolicited recruitment emails would be a risky read of the law given how broadly courts have interpreted CEMA so far.
Has a real estate company actually been sued under CEMA?
Not that has been publicly reported as of this post’s publication (August 6, 2026). Most CEMA litigation so far has targeted retailers over things like sale-deadline claims. Real estate’s exposure is a matter of the statute’s own language rather than an established litigation trend, which makes this a good time to get ahead of it rather than react to it.
What changed with the June 2026 amendment?
HB 2274 added a requirement that the sender have actual knowledge (or knowledge fairly implied from the circumstances) that a subject line was false, reduced statutory damages from $500 to $100 per violation, and applies only to cases filed on or after June 11, 2026.
This article is for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. Consult an attorney to evaluate your specific marketing practices under CEMA and related laws.
