FDCPA Lawsuits Increase in Second Half of February

Lawsuits filed against ARM firms under consumer statutes picked up in the second half of February 2012 after a slow first half. Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) suits were up 7.9 percent, Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) claims rose 25.2%, and Truth in Lending Act (TILA) lawsuits were up 37 percent. Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) suits were unchanged.

Year to date, FCRA and TCPA continue to show strong growth over 2011, while FDCPA is on pace with last year’s number and TILA is considerably lower. Expect FDCPA and TILA to pick up as the year goes on.

The following statistics are provided courtesy of WebRecon LLC.

FDCPA and Other Consumer Lawsuit Statistics, February 16-29, 2012

There were about 526 lawsuits filed under consumer statutes in the second half of February 2012. Here is an approximate breakdown:

• 422 FDCPA
• 129 FCRA
• 44 TCPA
• 37 TILA

Summary

• Of those cases, there were about 535 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
• Of those plaintiffs, about 214, or 40%, had sued under consumer statutes before.
• Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 1050 lawsuits since 2001
• Actions were filed in 120 different US District Court branches.
• About 588 different collection firms and creditors were sued.

The top courts where lawsuits were filed:

• 46 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
• 35 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
• 29 Lawsuits: Colorado District Court – Denver
• 19 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
• 17 Lawsuits: Minnesota District Court – Dmn
• 17 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
• 14 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Miami
• 12 Lawsuits: California Southern District Court – San Diego
• 12 Lawsuits: California Northern District Court – San Francisco
• 11 Lawsuits: New York Southern District Court – White Plains

The most active consumer attorneys were:

• Representing 14 Consumers: David M Larson
• Representing 11 Consumers: Craig T Kimmel
• Representing 10 Consumers: Novlette R Kidd
• Representing 9 Consumers: David J Philipps
• Representing 9 Consumers: Edwin D Hoskins
• Representing 9 Consumers: Vicki A Piontek
• Representing 8 Consumers: Dennis R Kurz
• Representing 7 Consumers: Adam J Fishbein
• Representing 7 Consumers: Sergei Lemberg
• Representing 6 Consumers: Craig J Ehrlich

Statistics Year to Date

1968 total lawsuits for 2012, including:

• 1685 FDCPA
• 402 FCRA
• 153 TCPA
• 150 TILA

Number of Unique Plaintiffs: 2025 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)

The most active consumer attorneys of the year:

• Representing 59 Consumers: Sergei Lemberg
• Representing 52 Consumers: Craig T Kimmel
• Representing 47 Consumers: David M Larson
• Representing 31 Consumers: Joseph M Meinhardt
• Representing 29 Consumers: David J Philipps

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.