Quick analysis: Happy Holidays! Lawsuits and Complaints are Down!
Just in time for the holiday break, we are happy to report a dramatic lull in consumer litigation for November. CFPB complaints were down a bit (-2.2%), though are still up a significant +32.5% YTD. However, FDCPA (-22.7%), TCPA (-10.3%) and FCRA (-13.6%) litigation are all down double digits over the previous month which is sure to help spread some holiday cheer.
In other news, putative class actions represented 15.5% of FDCPA, 49% of TCPA and 3.9% of FCRA lawsuits filed last month. About 43%(!) of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before. And finally, Florida attorney Thomas John Patti again took the top spot for representing the most consumers in November (46) while Georgia attorney Matthew Thomas Berry is still the most active consumer attorney of the year with 282 consumers represented so far in 2021.
| Current Month: | Previous Month: | Previous Year: |
Year to Date: | Year to Date Comp: |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 01, 2021 Nov 30, 2021 |
Oct 01, 2021 Oct 31, 2021 |
Nov 01, 2020 Nov 30, 2020 |
Jan 01, 2021 Nov 30, 2021 |
Jan 01, 2020 Nov 30, 2020 |
|||||
| CFPB | 5607 | 5731 | -2.2% | 4707 | 19.1% | 65306 | 49291 | 32.5% | |
| FDCPA | 471 | 609 | -22.7% | 444 | 6.1% | 6116 | 6389 | -4.3% | |
| FCRA | 407 | 471 | -13.6% | 383 | 6.3% | 4944 | 4777 | 3.5% | |
| TCPA | 104 | 116 | -10.3% | 187 | -44.4% | 1609 | 3108 | -48.2% | |
Complaint Statistics:
5607 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 880 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Nov 01, 2021 to Nov 30, 2021.
- 5607 CFPB Complaints
- 471 FDCPA, 73 Class Action (15.5%)
- 104 TCPA, 51 Class Action (49.0%)
- 407 FCRA, 16 Class Action (3.9%)
Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):
- Of those cases, there were about 880 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
- Of those plaintiffs, about 382, or (43%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
- Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 2763 lawsuits since 2001
- Actions were filed in 138 different US District Court branches.
- About 579 different collection firms and creditors were sued.
The top courts where lawsuits were filed:
- 53 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
- 42 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
- 40 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Fort Lauderdale
- 38 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
- 37 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
- 36 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
- 29 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Miami
- 28 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Orlando
- 26 Lawsuits: Texas Northern District Court – Dallas
- 21 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – West Palm Beach
The most active consumer attorneys were:
- Representing 46 Consumers: THOMAS JOHN PATTI
- Representing 29 Consumers: JIBRAEL S HINDI
- Representing 25 Consumers: JIBRAEL JARALLAH SAID HINDI
- Representing 23 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
- Representing 15 Consumers: JUSTIN ZEIG
- Representing 14 Consumers: JEFFREY SCOTT KENNY
- Representing 14 Consumers: VICTOR THOMAS METROFF
- Representing 13 Consumers: OMAR TAYSEER SULAIMAN
- Representing 13 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
- Representing 13 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
Statistics Year to Date:
11344 total lawsuits for 2021, including:
- 6116 FDCPA
- 4944 FCRA
- 1609 TCPA
Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2021: 10292 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)
The most active consumer attorneys of the year:
- Representing 282 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
- Representing 226 Consumers: THOMAS JOHN PATTI
- Representing 192 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
- Representing 181 Consumers: JIBRAEL JARALLAH SAID HINDI
- Representing 178 Consumers: ALEJANDRO EMMANUEL FIGUEROA
- Representing 168 Consumers: DAVID M BARSHAY
- Representing 158 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
- Representing 154 Consumers: ADRIAN ROBERT BACON
- Representing 142 Consumers: DAVID J PHILIPPS
- Representing 140 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
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CFPB Complaint Statistics:
There were 5607 complaints filed against debt collectors from Nov 01, 2021 to Nov 30, 2021.
Total number of debt collectors complained about: 827
The types of debt behind the complaints were:
- 1524 Other debt (27%)
- 1487 I do not know (27%)
- 1249 Credit card debt (22%)
- 773 Medical debt (14%)
- 292 Auto debt (5%)
- 127 Payday loan debt (2%)
- 81 Mortgage debt (1%)
- 41 Federal student loan debt (1%)
- 33 Private student loan debt (1%)
Here is a breakdown of complaints:
- 3431 Attempts to collect debt not owed (61%)
- 1020 Written notification about debt (18%)
- 399 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (7%)
- 367 False statements or representation (7%)
- 317 Communication tactics (6%)
- 73 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (1%)
The top five subissues were:
- 1558 Debt was result of identity theft (28%)
- 1457 Debt is not yours (26%)
- 742 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (13%)
- 333 Debt was paid (6%)
- 300 Attempted to collect wrong amount (5%)
The top states complaints were filed from are:
- 790 Complaints: TX
- 631 Complaints: CA
- 540 Complaints: FL
- 463 Complaints: GA
- 271 Complaints: NY
- 259 Complaints: PA
- 227 Complaints: OH
- 187 Complaints: IL
- 178 Complaints: NJ
- 155 Complaints: TN
The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:
- 4511 Closed with explanation (80%)
- 542 In progress (10%)
- 437 Closed with non-monetary relief (8%)
- 93 Untimely response (2%)
- 24 Closed with monetary relief (0%)
This includes 5458 (97%) timely responses to complaints, and 149 (3%) untimely responses.