FDCPA Lawsuits Decline in Second Half of April

The number of lawsuits filed by consumers and their attorneys against ARM firms was down in the final two weeks of April when compared to the first half of April.

The following statistics are provided to the ARM industry courtesy of WebRecon LLC.

FDCPA and Other Consumer Lawsuit Statistics, April 16-30, 2011

There were about 532 lawsuits filed under consumer statutes in the second half of April 2011. Here is an approximate breakdown:

• 489 FDCPA
• 52 FCRA
• 35 TILA
• 1 TCPA

Summary

• Of those cases, there were about 555 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
• Of those plaintiffs, about 134 had sued under consumer statutes before.
• Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 881 lawsuits since 2001
• Actions were filed in 120 different US District Court branches.
• About 540 different collection firms and creditors were sued.

The top courts where lawsuits were filed:

• 40 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
• 30 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
• 29 Lawsuits: Colorado District Court – Denver
• 29 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
• 18 Lawsuits: California Southern District Court – San Diego
• 15 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Fort Lauderdale
• 15 Lawsuits: Michigan Eastern District Court – Detroit
• 13 Lawsuits: Connecticut District Court – New Haven
• 12 Lawsuits: Minnesota District Court – Dmn
• 9 Lawsuits: Texas Southern District Court – Houston

The most active consumer attorneys were:

• Representing 18 Consumers: Sergei Lemberg
• Representing 14 Consumers: Jack Dennis Card, Jr.
• Representing 14 Consumers: Todd M. Friedman
• Representing 13 Consumers: Craig Thor Kimmel
• Representing 11 Consumers: Tali K Albukerk
• Representing 10 Consumers: Darin Shaw
• Representing 10 Consumers: James D. Pacitti
• Representing 9 Consumers: Tara Leigh Patterson
• Representing 9 Consumers: Jody B. Burton
• Representing 9 Consumers: Andrew I. Glenn

Statistics Year to Date

4740 total lawsuits for 2011, including:

• 3760 FDCPA
• 424 FCRA
• 424 TILA
• 112 TCPA

Number of Unique Plaintiffs: 4797 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)

The most active consumer attorneys of the year:

• Representing 115 Consumers: Craig Thor Kimmel
• Representing 114 Consumers: David Michael Larson
• Representing 82 Consumers: James D Pacitti
• Representing 66 Consumers: Michael S Agruss
• Representing 61 Consumers: Darin Shaw

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.