Litigation Analysis
Quick analysis: Mirror Images
So last month we told you everything was up in April (except CFPB complaints). Well this month we're holding up a mirror to see the opposite in reflection - everything in May was down (except CFPB complaints).
Filings of all three of the main consumer protection statutes dropped in May fairly significantly: TCPA (-18.2%), FDCPA (-9.8%) and FCRA (-8.2%). And CFPB complaints were up (+1.1%).
Even so, the longer term trends remain solid with all four complaint categories significantly up YTD in 2026: TCPA (+29.6%), FDCPA (+14.7%) and FCRA (+42.8%). And CFPB complaints are up (+34.8%).
In other news, putative class actions represented 9.1% of FDCPA, 80%(!) of TCPA and 5.8% of FCRA lawsuits filed last month. TCPA class actions are still extraordinarily high, historically speaking. About 40% 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 sixteenth straight month to represent both the most consumers in May (68) as well as YTD (438).
Complaint Statistics:
27319 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 1334 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from May 01, 2026 to May 31, 2026.
- 27319 CFPB Complaints
- 407 FDCPA, 37 Class Action (9.1%)
- 270 TCPA, 216 Class Action (80.0%)
- 894 FCRA, 52 Class Action (5.8%)
Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):
- Of those cases, there were about 1334 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
- Of those plaintiffs, about 531, or (40%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
- Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 7201 lawsuits since 2001
- Actions were filed in 178 different US District Court branches.
- About 732 different collection firms and creditors were sued.
The top courts where lawsuits were filed:
- 84 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court - Atlanta
- 79 Lawsuits: California Central District Court - Western Division - Los Angeles
- 62 Lawsuits: District Court For The Northern District Of Illinois
- 54 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court - Tampa
- 43 Lawsuits: California Central District Court - Southern Division - Santa Ana
- 42 Lawsuits: Texas Northern District Court - Dallas
- 39 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court - Miami
- 37 Lawsuits: California Southern District Court - San Diego
- 35 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court - Orlando
- 34 Lawsuits: California Eastern District Court - Sacramento
The most active consumer attorneys were:
- Representing 48 Consumers: GERALD DONALD LANE
- Representing 42 Consumers: STEPHANIE ELIZABETH EMANUEL
- Representing 23 Consumers: FAYTHE GUTIERREZ
- Representing 21 Consumers: KYLE W SCHUMACHER
- Representing 21 Consumers: ZANE CHARLES HEDAYA
- Representing 21 Consumers: DAVID J PHILIPPS
- Representing 20 Consumers: JONATHAN ALEXANDER HEEPS
- Representing 20 Consumers: GERALD D LANE
- Representing 20 Consumers: TALAL RASHID
- Representing 19 Consumers: MIRANDA JACKSON
Statistics Year to Date:
6974 total lawsuits for 2026, including:
- 2020 FDCPA
- 4414 FCRA
- 1398 TCPA
Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2026: 6083 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)
The most active consumer attorneys of the year:
- Representing 323 Consumers: GERALD DONALD LANE
- Representing 143 Consumers: ZANE CHARLES HEDAYA
- Representing 135 Consumers: MARK A CAREY
- Representing 115 Consumers: GERALD D LANE
- Representing 110 Consumers: JEFF LOHMAN
- Representing 88 Consumers: JONATHAN ALEXANDER HEEPS
- Representing 85 Consumers: ESTHER NNEKA OISE
- Representing 85 Consumers: MITCHELL DAVID HANSEN
- Representing 80 Consumers: KYLE W SCHUMACHER
- Representing 79 Consumers: OCTAVIO GOMEZ
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CFPB Complaint Statistics:
There were 27319 complaints filed against debt collectors from May 01, 2026 to May 31, 2026.
Total number of debt collectors complained about: 1147
The types of debt behind the complaints were:
- 17771 I do not know (65%)
- 3121 Credit card debt (11%)
- 2772 Other debt (10%)
- 1083 Telecommunications debt (4%)
- 1077 Rental debt (4%)
- 616 Medical debt (2%)
- 454 Auto debt (2%)
- 245 Payday loan debt (1%)
- 76 Private student loan debt (0%)
- 53 Federal student loan debt (0%)
- 51 Mortgage debt (0%)
Here is a breakdown of complaints:
- 12588 Attempts to collect debt not owed (46%)
- 7079 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (26%)
- 3939 Written notification about debt (14%)
- 2506 False statements or representation (9%)
- 736 Communication tactics (3%)
- 308 Electronic communications (1%)
- 163 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (1%)
The top five subissues were:
- 8167 Debt is not yours (30%)
- 6633 Threatened or suggested your credit would be damaged (24%)
- 3017 Debt was result of identity theft (11%)
- 2666 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (10%)
- 2376 Attempted to collect wrong amount (9%)
The top states complaints were filed from are:
- 4847 Complaints: TX
- 2923 Complaints: FL
- 2117 Complaints: CA
- 2035 Complaints: GA
- 1266 Complaints: NC
- 1045 Complaints: IL
- 1044 Complaints: NY
- 1010 Complaints: SC
- 929 Complaints: PA
- 854 Complaints: AL
The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:
- 15159 Closed with explanation (55%)
- 6036 In progress (22%)
- 4930 Closed with non-monetary relief (18%)
- 1168 Untimely response (4%)
- 26 Closed with monetary relief (0%)
This includes 25920 (95%) timely responses to complaints, and 1399 (5%) untimely responses.
