FDCPA Lawsuits Gain Steam in Second Half of March

The number of lawsuits filed in the second half of March under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and other consumer statutes continued the increased momentum seen in the first half of the month after a slower February with increases in FDCPA cases (up 14.1%) and TCPA lawsuits (up 56.1%).

The second half of March did not contain any surprises. FDCPA lawsuits, while down about one percent year-over-year, are still tracking very close to 2011 numbers, while FCRA and TCPA numbers are still showing strong growth over 2011.  We saw a particularly strong period for FCRA suits in the first half of March, causing this period to be down by comparison, but not otherwise unusual.

The following statistics are provided courtesy of WebRecon LLC.

FDCPA and Other Consumer Lawsuit Statistics, March 16-31, 2012

Full Statistics:

There were about 577 lawsuits filed under consumer statutes in the second half of March 2012. Here is an approximate breakdown:

•  525 FDCPA
• 71 FCRA
• 64 TCPA
• 33 TILA

Summary:

• Of those cases, there were about 620 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
• Of those plaintiffs, about 205, or 34%, had sued under consumer statutes before.
• Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 1224 lawsuits since 2001
• Actions were filed in 120 different US District Court branches.
• About 649 different collection firms and creditors were sued.

The top courts where lawsuits were filed:

• 41 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
• 39 Lawsuits: Colorado District Court – Denver
• 29 Lawsuits: California Southern District Court – San Diego
• 26 Lawsuits: Minnesota District Court – Dmn
• 25 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
• 23 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
• 16 Lawsuits: Tennessee Eastern District Court – Greeneville
• 15 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
• 15 Lawsuits: Michigan Eastern District Court – Detroit
• 12 Lawsuits: Texas Southern District Court – Houston

The most active consumer attorneys were:

• Representing 18 Consumers: Dennis R Kurz
• Representing 16 Consumers: David M Larson
• Representing 14 Consumers: Craig T Kimmel
• Representing 12 Consumers: Everett H Mechem
• Representing 12 Consumers: Sergei Lemberg
• Representing 9 Consumers: Adam J Fishbein
• Representing 9 Consumers: Amir J Goldstein
• Representing 9 Consumers: Donald A Yarbrough
• Representing 8 Consumers: Craig J Ehrlich
• Representing 8 Consumers: Kimberly A Lucas

Statistics Year to Date

3075 total lawsuits for 2012, including:

• 2669 FDCPA
• 595 FCRA
• 258 TCPA
• 236 TILA

Number of Unique Plaintiffs: 3177 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)

The most active consumer attorneys of the year:

• Representing 84 Consumers: Sergei Lemberg
• Representing 77 Consumers: David M Larson
• Representing 72 Consumers: Craig T Kimmel
• Representing 62 Consumers: David J Philipps
• Representing 42 Consumers: Everett H Mechem

About WebRecon LLC: Creditors and collection firms use WebRecon’s services to easily segregate predictably litigious consumers from their databases. A significant percentage of consumer litigation is initiated by the same consumers over and over again, and screening them out of the general population can reduce lawsuits significantly.

WebRecon LLC is transforming into the Bureau of Litigant Data, and as a result will be able to track even more useful data in the coming months and years, including data on non-filed litigation demand attempts. For more information on our consumer litigant batching, monitoring and searching service, please visit www.webrecon.com or call (616) 682-5327.