Litigation Analysis
Quick analysis: Everything Up (for the first time in over a year!)
April 2026 had all three of the top consumer protection statutes up for the month over March: TCPA (+16.6%), FDCPA (+9.2%) and FCRA (+4.6%). This is the first time that's happened since March 2025. They are all up YTD as well - TCPA (+28.2%), FDCPA (+17.6%) and FCRA (+45.3%)(!) That's a huge momentum shift in FCRA litigation, which has been steadily growing, but at a much more modest pace over the last several years.
Only CFPB complaints (-19.2%) were down, but even they are still up YTD by +40.9%.
In other news, putative class actions represented 6.2% of FDCPA, 77.3%(!) of TCPA and 2.1% of FCRA lawsuits filed last month. TCPA class actions are still extraordinarily high, historically speaking. About 42% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before. And finally, South Florida attorney Gerald Lane (from The Law Offices of Jibrael S.Hindi) continued for a fifteenth straight month to represent both the most consumers in April (85) as well as YTD (370).
Complaint Statistics:
26988 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 1441 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Apr 01, 2026 to Apr 30, 2026.
- 26988 CFPB Complaints
- 451 FDCPA, 28 Class Action (6.2%)
- 330 TCPA, 255 Class Action (77.3%)
- 974 FCRA, 20 Class Action (2.1%)
Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):
- Of those cases, there were about 1441 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
- Of those plaintiffs, about 606, or (42%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
- Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 4536 lawsuits since 2001
- Actions were filed in 166 different US District Court branches.
- About 810 different collection firms and creditors were sued.
The top courts where lawsuits were filed:
- 133 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court - Chicago
- 132 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court - Atlanta
- 108 Lawsuits: California Central District Court - Western Division - Los Angeles
- 56 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court - Tampa
- 53 Lawsuits: California Central District Court - Southern Division - Santa Ana
- 49 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court - Fort Lauderdale
- 45 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court - Orlando
- 41 Lawsuits: California Southern District Court - San Diego
- 36 Lawsuits: Texas Southern District Court - Houston
- 34 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court - Miami
The most active consumer attorneys were:
- Representing 85 Consumers: GERALD DONALD LANE
- Representing 46 Consumers: JEFF LOHMAN
- Representing 43 Consumers: ZANE CHARLES HEDAYA
- Representing 31 Consumers: ESTHER NNEKA OISE
- Representing 26 Consumers: MITCHELL DAVID HANSEN
- Representing 25 Consumers: KYLE W SCHUMACHER
- Representing 24 Consumers: MARK A CAREY
- Representing 20 Consumers: JONATHAN ALEXANDER HEEPS
- Representing 20 Consumers: OCTAVIO GOMEZ
- Representing 18 Consumers: SCOTT EDWIN FERRELL
Statistics Year to Date:
5575 total lawsuits for 2026, including:
- 1613 FDCPA
- 3520 FCRA
- 1128 TCPA
Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2026: 4893 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)
The most active consumer attorneys of the year:
- Representing 370 Consumers: GERALD DONALD LANE
- Representing 122 Consumers: ZANE CHARLES HEDAYA
- Representing 121 Consumers: MARK A CAREY
- Representing 102 Consumers: JEFF LOHMAN
- Representing 75 Consumers: MITCHELL DAVID HANSEN
- Representing 71 Consumers: ESTHER NNEKA OISE
- Representing 68 Consumers: JONATHAN ALEXANDER HEEPS
- Representing 66 Consumers: OCTAVIO GOMEZ
- Representing 59 Consumers: KYLE W SCHUMACHER
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CFPB Complaint Statistics:
There were 26988 complaints filed against debt collectors from Apr 01, 2026 to Apr 30, 2026.
Total number of debt collectors complained about: 1093
The types of debt behind the complaints were:
- 17182 I do not know (64%)
- 3143 Credit card debt (12%)
- 2876 Other debt (11%)
- 1194 Rental debt (4%)
- 1162 Telecommunications debt (4%)
- 607 Medical debt (2%)
- 455 Auto debt (2%)
- 206 Payday loan debt (1%)
- 82 Private student loan debt (0%)
- 46 Mortgage debt (0%)
- 35 Federal student loan debt (0%)
Here is a breakdown of complaints:
- 12545 Attempts to collect debt not owed (46%)
- 6615 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (25%)
- 3911 Written notification about debt (14%)
- 2726 False statements or representation (10%)
- 711 Communication tactics (3%)
- 301 Electronic communications (1%)
- 179 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (1%)
The top five subissues were:
- 7746 Debt is not yours (29%)
- 6219 Threatened or suggested your credit would be damaged (23%)
- 3102 Debt was result of identity theft (11%)
- 2638 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (10%)
- 2603 Attempted to collect wrong amount (10%)
The top states complaints were filed from are:
- 4925 Complaints: TX
- 2864 Complaints: FL
- 2133 Complaints: CA
- 2095 Complaints: GA
- 1212 Complaints: NC
- 1125 Complaints: SC
- 998 Complaints: NY
- 988 Complaints: IL
- 949 Complaints: PA
- 682 Complaints: LA
The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:
- 17029 Closed with explanation (63%)
- 5969 In progress (22%)
- 3148 Closed with non-monetary relief (12%)
- 820 Untimely response (3%)
- 22 Closed with monetary relief (0%)
This includes 25960 (96%) timely responses to complaints, and 1028 (4%) untimely responses.
