Webrecon July 2022 stats

Litigation Analysis

From a slog to a slump.

Last month we talked about the “June Litigation Slog” – and now we are extending it to the “Dog Days Slump”.

Consumer litigation is down across the board again from last month (TCPA -3.8%, FDCPA -18.7%, FCRA -5.1%), and YTD too (TCPA -26.1%, FDCPA -23.6%) with the exception of FCRA filings – which only ticked up a meager +1.6%.

CFPB complaints also declined -4.6% for the month and are down -15.1% YTD – it seems like that decline is getting steeper as the year goes on.

In other news, putative class actions represented 11.5% of FDCPA, 65.1% of TCPA and 1.4% of FCRA lawsuits filed last month. About 41% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before. And finally, Nevada attorneys Shawn Wayne Miller and David H Krieger took the top spot for representing the most consumers in July (22) while Florida attorney Jibrael S Hindi has still represented the most consumers for the year so far (214).

Complaint Statistics:

4393 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 781 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Jul 01, 2022 to Jul 31, 2022.

• 4393 CFPB Complaints
• 321 FDCPA, 37 Class Action (11.5%)
• 126 TCPA, 82 Class Action (65.1%)
• 443 FCRA, 6 Class Action (1.4%)

Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):

• Of those cases, there were about 781 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
• Of those plaintiffs, about 322, or (41%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
• Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 2023 lawsuits since 2001
• Actions were filed in 131 different US District Court branches.
• About 528 different collection firms and creditors were sued.

The top courts where lawsuits were filed:

• 38 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
• 37 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
• 35 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
• 31 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
• 28 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
• 26 Lawsuits: Nevada District Court – Las Vegas
• 25 Lawsuits: Minnesota District Court – Dmn
• 24 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Miami
• 19 Lawsuits: New Jersey District Court – Newark
• 17 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Orlando

The most active consumer attorneys were:

• Representing 22 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
• Representing 22 Consumers: SHAWN WAYNE MILLER
• Representing 16 Consumers: MICHAEL FREDERICK CARDOZA
• Representing 16 Consumers: CATRINA EOM SMITH
• Representing 14 Consumers: ANDREW JOHN SHAMIS
• Representing 13 Consumers: SCOTT ADAM EDELSBERG
• Representing 11 Consumers: GARRETT O BERG
• Representing 11 Consumers: JENNIFER GOMES SIMIL
• Representing 11 Consumers: DAVID J PHILIPPS
• Representing 9 Consumers: NICOLA CARLENE RICHARDS

Statistics Year to Date:
6590 total lawsuits for 2022, including:

• 2985 FDCPA
• 3332 FCRA
• 859 TCPA

Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2022: 5982 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)

The most active consumer attorneys of the year:

• Representing 214 Consumers: JIBRAEL JARALLAH SAID HINDI
• Representing 192 Consumers: THOMAS JOHN PATTI
• Representing 153 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
• Representing 129 Consumers: CRAIG CARLEY MARCHIANDO
• Representing 122 Consumers: LEONARD ANTHONY BENNETT
• Representing 113 Consumers: DREW DAVID SARRETT
• Representing 100 Consumers: MICHAEL FREDERICK CARDOZA
• Representing 90 Consumers: CHRISTOPHER NEIL ARMOR
• Representing 83 Consumers: SYED HASEEB HUSSAIN

CFPB Complaint Statistics:

There were 4393 complaints filed against debt collectors from Jul 01, 2022 to Jul 31, 2022.

Total number of debt collectors complained about: 734

The types of debt behind the complaints were:

• 1305 Other debt (30%)
• 1010 Credit card debt (23%)
• 980 I do not know (22%)
• 648 Medical debt (15%)
• 209 Auto debt (5%)
• 112 Payday loan debt (3%)
• 68 Mortgage debt (2%)
• 46 Private student loan debt (1%)
• 15 Federal student loan debt (0%)

Here is a breakdown of complaints:

• 2272 Attempts to collect debt not owed (52%)
• 972 Written notification about debt (22%)
• 401 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (9%)
• 350 Communication tactics (8%)
• 327 False statements or representation (7%)
• 71 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (2%)

The top five subissues were:

• 1085 Debt is not yours (25%)
• 723 Debt was result of identity theft (16%)
• 587 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (13%)
• 387 Debt was paid (9%)
• 349 Didnt receive notice of right to dispute (8%)

The top states complaints were filed from are:

• 537 Complaints: FL
• 516 Complaints: TX
• 408 Complaints: CA
• 365 Complaints: GA
• 191 Complaints: IL
• 188 Complaints: NY
• 179 Complaints: PA
• 152 Complaints: NC
• 139 Complaints: VA
• 138 Complaints: MD

The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:

• 3316 Closed with explanation (75%)
• 596 In progress (14%)
• 399 Closed with non-monetary relief (9%)
• 51 Untimely response (1%)
• 31 Closed with monetary relief (1%)

This includes 4250 (97%) timely responses to complaints, and 143 (3%) untimely responses.