WebRecon Stats for Feb 2020: It Starts… 🎌

Quick analysis: It starts…

After a strong start to the year in litigation totals, consumer litigation took a bit of a tumble in February – at least compared to where it stood in January. FDCPA, FCRA and TCPA were all down for the month (-2.9%, -12.9% and down an incredible -49.3%, respectively). It is worth noting that both FCRA and TCPA were up by significant margins over this time last year however, +19.8% and +38.8%, respectively.

Whether connected to fears of the impending coronavirus spread or something else, the litigation slowdown is certain to continue through the next couple of months as courts close and commerce grinds to a halt.

CFPB complaints (which, incidentally can be filed in the comfort of your living room) rose 5.7% over January.

In other news, putative class actions represented 21.1% of FDCPA, 48.3% of TCPA and 6.9% of FCRA lawsuits filed last month.

About 34% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before.

And finally, for the first time since October 2019, New York attorney Craig B. Sanders represented more consumers than anyone else for the month (66) which also makes him the most active consumer attorney of the year with 91. That doesn’t include the literal leaders of Rebecca Evans and Nicole Rochelle Lewis, who I consider outliers because they filed a single TCPA lawsuit with 238 plaintiffs in it.

	Current Month:	Previous Month:		Previous Year:			Year to Date:	Year to Date Comp:
	Feb 01, 2020 Feb 29, 2020	Jan 01, 2020 Jan 31, 2020		Feb 01, 2019 Mar 01, 2019			Jan 01, 2020 Feb 29, 2020	Jan 01, 2019 Mar 01, 2019
CFPB	4011	3793	5.7%	4005	0.1%		7804	7176	8.8%
FDCPA	629	648	-2.9%	695	-9.5%		1277	1412	-9.6%
FCRA	420	482	-12.9%	403	4.2%		902	753	19.8%
TCPA	271	534	-49.3%	277	-2.2%		805	580	38.8%

 

 

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We interrupt February Stats for a preview of March Stats!
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This is preliminary! But we thought the industry might like to see a sneak preview of how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting consumer litigation since shutdowns began. We took a snapshot of filed litigation for the first 15 days of March, and present it to you below. Be aware, these numbers are not yet 100% confirmed, but they should be pretty close to reality when all is said and done. We will officially update March numbers in mid-April.

	Current Month:	Previous Month:		Previous Year:			Year to Date:	Year to Date Comp:
	Mar 01, 2020 Mar 15, 2020	Feb 15, 2020 Feb 29, 2020		Mar 01, 2019 Mar 15, 2019			Jan 01, 2020 Mar 15, 2020	Jan 01, 2019 Mar 15, 2019
CFPB	1675	2060	-18.7%	2162	-22.5%		9479	9178	3.3%
FDCPA	284	359	-20.9%	372	-23.7%		1561	1749	-10.7%
FCRA	191	245	-22.0%	176	8.5%		1093	912	19.8%
TCPA	109	127	-14.2%	134	-18.7%		914	703	30.0%

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Now back to your regularly scheduled February stats!
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Complaint Statistics:

4011 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 1159 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Feb 01, 2020 to Feb 29, 2020.

• 4011 CFPB Complaints
• 629 FDCPA, 133 Class Action (21.1%)
• 271 TCPA, 131 Class Action (48.3%)
• 420 FCRA, 29 Class Action (6.9%)

Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):

• Of those cases, there were about 1159 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
• Of those plaintiffs, about 398, or (34%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
• Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 2850 lawsuits since 2001
• Actions were filed in 160 different US District Court branches.
• About 793 different collection firms and creditors were sued.

The top courts where lawsuits were filed:

• 96 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
• 52 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
• 46 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
• 40 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
• 40 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
• 31 Lawsuits: Nevada District Court – Las Vegas
• 31 Lawsuits: Texas Eastern District Court – Sherman
• 31 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
• 28 Lawsuits: Indiana Southern District Court – Indianapolis
• 25 Lawsuits: New Jersey District Court – Newark

The most active consumer attorneys were:

• Representing 66 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
• Representing 37 Consumers: DAVID M BARSHAY
• Representing 33 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
• Representing 31 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
• Representing 30 Consumers: TAXIARCHIS HATZIDIMITRIADIS
• Representing 25 Consumers: ADRIAN ROBERT BACON
• Representing 22 Consumers: DAVID W HEMMINGER
• Representing 22 Consumers: DAVID J PHILIPPS
• Representing 21 Consumers: EDWARD Y KROUB
• Representing 20 Consumers: MARY ELIZABETH PHILIPPS

Statistics Year to Date:
2408 total lawsuits for 2020, including:

• 1277 FDCPA
• 902 FCRA
• 805 TCPA

Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2020: 2598 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)

The most active consumer attorneys of the year:

• Representing 238 Consumers: REBECCA EVANS
• Representing 238 Consumers: NICOLE ROCHELLE LEWIS
• Representing 91 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
• Representing 88 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
• Representing 74 Consumers: ADRIAN ROBERT BACON
• Representing 58 Consumers: DAVID M BARSHAY
• Representing 56 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
• Representing 54 Consumers: TAXIARCHIS HATZIDIMITRIADIS
• Representing 49 Consumers: DAVID W HEMMINGER
• Representing 47 Consumers: EDWARD Y KROUB

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CFPB Complaint Statistics:

There were 4011 complaints filed against debt collectors from Feb 01, 2020 to Feb 29, 2020.

Total number of debt collectors complained about: 783

The types of debt behind the complaints were:

• 1176 Other debt (29%)
• 969 I do not know (24%)
• 815 Credit card debt (20%)
• 593 Medical debt (15%)
• 131 Auto debt (3%)
• 125 Payday loan debt (3%)
• 93 Mortgage debt (2%)
• 61 Federal student loan debt (2%)
• 48 Private student loan debt (1%)

Here is a breakdown of complaints:

• 1957 Attempts to collect debt not owed (49%)
• 857 Written notification about debt (21%)
• 381 False statements or representation (9%)
• 367 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (9%)
• 340 Communication tactics (8%)
• 109 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (3%)

The top five subissues were:

• 952 Debt is not yours (24%)
• 615 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (15%)
• 578 Debt was result of identity theft (14%)
• 362 Debt was paid (9%)
• 302 Attempted to collect wrong amount (8%)

The top states complaints were filed from are:

• 584 Complaints: TX
• 465 Complaints: CA
• 379 Complaints: FL
• 243 Complaints: GA
• 189 Complaints: NY
• 129 Complaints: IL
• 118 Complaints: PA
• 117 Complaints: NJ
• 113 Complaints: VA
• 104 Complaints:

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

• 3269 Closed with explanation (82%)
• 343 In progress (9%)
• 307 Closed with non-monetary relief (8%)
• 74 Untimely response (2%)
• 18 Closed with monetary relief (0%)

This includes 3888 (97%) timely responses to complaints, and 123 (3%) untimely responses.