FDCPA Lawsuits Pick Up in Second Half of April, Still Lag 2011 Numbers

The number of lawsuits filed in the second half of April under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and other consumer statutes picked up considerably compared to a slow start in the first half of the month. From April 16 to April 30, FDCPA lawsuits filed against ARM companies were up nearly 20 percent compared to the previous period and increased 12 percent compared to the same period a year ago.

But for the full year to date, FDCPA lawsuits filed by consumers are down nearly 3 percent when compared to the first four months of 2011. Lawsuits claiming violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), meanwhile, are up 73 percent and lawsuits filed under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) are also up 83 percent.

The following statistics are provided courtesy of WebRecon LLC.

FDCPA and Other Consumer Lawsuit Statistics, April 16-30, 2012

Full Statistics:

There were about 617 lawsuits filed under consumer statutes in the second half of April 2012. Here is an approximate breakdown:

• 550 FDCPA
• 81 FCRA
• 41 TCPA
• 31 TILA

Summary:

Of those cases, there were about 699 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
Of those plaintiffs, about 224, or 33%, had sued under consumer statutes before.
Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 1291 lawsuits since 2001
Actions were filed in 115 different US District Court branches.
About 718 different collection firms and creditors were sued.

The top courts where lawsuits were filed:

• 41 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
• 40 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
• 36 Lawsuits: Minnesota District Court – Dmn
• 35 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
• 30 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
• 29 Lawsuits: Colorado District Court – Denver
• 19 Lawsuits: New York Southern District Court – Foley Square
• 19 Lawsuits: California Southern District Court – San Diego
• 19 Lawsuits: California Northern District Court – San Francisco
• 14 Lawsuits: New York Western District Court – Buffalo

The most active consumer attorneys were:

• Representing 29 Consumers: Richard David Faulkner
• Representing 21 Consumers: Craig T Kimmel
• Representing 20 Consumers: David R Skinner
• Representing 15 Consumers: Mark L Vavreck
• Representing 14 Consumers: David M Larson
• Representing 14 Consumers: Dennis R Kurz
• Representing 13 Consumers: Sergei Lemberg
• Representing 11 Consumers: Gregory J Gorski
• Representing 11 Consumers: Adam J Fishbein
• Representing 10 Consumers: Mary E Philipps

Statistics Year to Date

4,171 total lawsuits for 2012, including:

• 3,659 FDCPA
• 749 FCRA
• 341 TCPA
• 296 TILA

Number of Unique Plaintiffs: 4285 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)

The most active consumer attorneys of the year:

• Representing 110 Consumers: Sergei Lemberg
• Representing 106 Consumers: David M Larson
• Representing 102 Consumers: Craig T Kimmel
• Representing 78 Consumers: David J Philipps
• Representing 64 Consumers: Dennis R Kurz