FDCPA Lawsuits Rise in First Half of March

The total number of Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and other lawsuits filed against debt collection industry firms increased in the first half of March, according to WebRecon LLC.

FDCPA and Other Consumer Lawsuit Statistics, March 1-15, 2011

There were about 477 lawsuits filed under consumer statutes in the first half of March 2011. Here is an approximate breakdown:

• 444 FDCPA
• 55 FCRA
• 15 TILA
• 5 TCPA

Summary:

• Of those cases, there were about 488 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).

• Of those plaintiffs, about 140 had sued under consumer statutes before.
• Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 982 lawsuits since 2001
• Actions were filed in 120 different US District Court branches.
• About 417 different collection firms and creditors were sued.

The top courts where lawsuits were filed:

• 27 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
• 24 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
• 23 Lawsuits: Colorado District Court – Denver
• 19 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
• 17 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
• 15 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
• 15 Lawsuits: Minnesota District Court – Dmn
• 15 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Central Islip
• 14 Lawsuits: Michigan Eastern District Court – Detroit
• 9 Lawsuits: Michigan Western District Court – Southern Division

The most active consumer attorneys were:

• Representing 14 Consumers: David Michael Larson
• Representing 10 Consumers: Robert T. Healey, Jr.
• Representing 10 Consumers: Adam J. Fishbein
• Representing 10 Consumers: Tara Leigh Patterson
• Representing 9 Consumers: Andrew Ira Glenn
• Representing 9 Consumers: Amy Lynn Bennecoff
• Representing 9 Consumers: Dennis Robert Kurz
• Representing 8 Consumers: Craig Thor Kimmel
• Representing 8 Consumers: Phillip C. Rogers
• Representing 8 Consumers: Mark L Vavreck

Statistics Year to Date

2224 total lawsuits for 2011, including:

• 2120 FDCPA
• 236 FCRA
• 103 TILA
• 102 TCPA

Number of Unique Plaintiffs: 2254 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)

The most active consumer attorneys of the year:

• Representing 61 Consumers: David Michael Larson
• Representing 58 Consumers: Craig Thor Kimmel
• Representing 37 Consumers: Lara Ruth Shapiro
• Representing 34 Consumers: Jack Dennis Card, Jr.
• Representing 32 Consumers: John Thomas Steinkamp

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 by as much as a third.