Number of FDCPA Lawsuits Filed Flat in First Half of April

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

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

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

There were about 617 lawsuits filed under consumer statutes in the first half of April 2011. Here is an approximate breakdown:

• 564 FDCPA
• 73 FCRA
• 14 TILA
• 3 TCPA

Summary

• Of those cases, there were about 624 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
• Of those plaintiffs, about 185 had sued under consumer statutes before.
• Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 1118 lawsuits since 2001
• Actions were filed in 133 different US District Court branches.
• About 504 different collection firms and creditors were sued.

The top courts where lawsuits were filed:

• 50 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
• 48 Lawsuits: Colorado District Court – Denver
• 29 Lawsuits: Minnesota District Court – Dmn
• 24 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Fort Lauderdale
• 22 Lawsuits: New Jersey District Court – Newark
• 19 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
• 16 Lawsuits: Indiana Southern District Court – Indianapolis
• 16 Lawsuits: California Southern District Court – San Diego
• 15 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
• 15 Lawsuits: Texas Southern District Court – Houston

The most active consumer attorneys were:

• Representing 36 Consumers: Craig Thor Kimmel
• Representing 20 Consumers: David Michael Larson
• Representing 16 Consumers: Lark H Fogel
• Representing 16 Consumers: Mark L Vavreck
• Representing 15 Consumers: Diana Panian Larson
• Representing 14 Consumers: Michael S Agruss
• Representing 13 Consumers: Donald A Yarbrough
• Representing 11 Consumers: Dave Lilley
• Representing 10 Consumers: Andrea Darrow Smith
• Representing 9 Consumers: Allison Marie Wolfe

Statistics Year to Date

3437 total lawsuits for 2011, including:

• 3251 FDCPA
• 368 FCRA
• 172 TILA
• 111 TCPA

Number of Unique Plaintiffs: 3468 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)

The most active consumer attorneys of the year:

• Representing 106 Consumers: David Michael Larson
• Representing 105 Consumers: Craig Thor Kimmel
• Representing 66 Consumers: James D Pacitti
• Representing 60 Consumers: Michael S Agruss
• Representing 57 Consumers: Lara Ruth Shapiro

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.