Quick analysis: Back to normal, sort of – everything is down.
We knew TCPA would be way down, because it was artificially inflated last month by some attorneys who crammed hundreds of plaintiffs into a handful of suits. So that is back to normal territory. But even so, May was the lowest month of the year in terms of total litigation and FDCPA and TCPA litigation. FCRA numbers were lower, nominally, only in February and March.
In other news, putative class actions represented 18.4% of FDCPA, 44.7% of TCPA and 4.5% of FCRA lawsuits filed last month.
About 33% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before.
And finally, Georgia attorney Matthew Thomas Berry represented more consumers than anyone else for the month with 24 and New York’s Craig B. Sanders has filed the most for the year with 218. That YTD stat excludes attorneys Nicole Rochelle Lewis and Rebecca Evans who crammed hundreds of plaintiffs into a few TCPA lawsuits earlier this year.
| Current Month: | Previous Month: | Previous Year: |
Year to Date: | Year to Date Comp: |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 01, 2020 May 31, 2020 |
Apr 01, 2020 Apr 30, 2020 |
May 01, 2019 May 31, 2019 |
Jan 01, 2020 May 31, 2020 |
Jan 01, 2019 May 31, 2019 |
|||||
| CFPB | 4455 | 4573 | -2.6% | 4181 | 6.6% | 21088 | 19515 | 8.1% | |
| FDCPA | 521 | 603 | -13.6% | 854 | -39.0% | 3016 | 3784 | -20.3% | |
| FCRA | 425 | 460 | -7.6% | 407 | 4.4% | 2197 | 1930 | 13.8% | |
| TCPA | 206 | 650 | -68.3% | 348 | -40.8% | 1911 | 1517 | 26.0% | |
Complaint Statistics:
4455 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 1012 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from May 01, 2020 to May 31, 2020.
- 4455 CFPB Complaints
- 521 FDCPA, 96 Class Action (18.4%)
- 206 TCPA, 92 Class Action (44.7%)
- 425 FCRA, 19 Class Action (4.5%)
Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):
- Of those cases, there were about 1012 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
- Of those plaintiffs, about 332, or (33%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
- Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 2974 lawsuits since 2001
- Actions were filed in 144 different US District Court branches.
- About 682 different collection firms and creditors were sued.
The top courts where lawsuits were filed:
- 84 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
- 65 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
- 45 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
- 31 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
- 27 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
- 25 Lawsuits: Minnesota District Court – Dmn
- 24 Lawsuits: Nevada District Court – Las Vegas
- 24 Lawsuits: Texas Northern District Court – Dallas
- 23 Lawsuits: Indiana Southern District Court – Indianapolis
- 22 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
The most active consumer attorneys were:
- Representing 24 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
- Representing 23 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
- Representing 21 Consumers: TAXIARCHIS HATZIDIMITRIADIS
- Representing 20 Consumers: CHRISTOPHER NEIL ARMOR
- Representing 20 Consumers: JOSEPH SCOTT DAVIDSON
- Representing 19 Consumers: ALEJANDRO EMMANUEL FIGUEROA
- Representing 18 Consumers: MATTHEW J LANDREAU
- Representing 16 Consumers: MOHAMMED OMAR BADWAN
- Representing 16 Consumers: JOSEPH LEWIS ERKENBRACK
- Representing 16 Consumers: ADAM KLEIN
Statistics Year to Date:
5582 total lawsuits for 2020, including:
- 3016 FDCPA
- 2197 FCRA
- 1911 TCPA
Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2020: 6021 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)
The most active consumer attorneys of the year:
- Representing 361 Consumers: REBECCA EVANS
- Representing 238 Consumers: NICOLE ROCHELLE LEWIS
- Representing 218 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 155 Consumers: MICHAEL ZHANG
- Representing 128 Consumers: TODD M FRIEDMAN
- Representing 121 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
- Representing 113 Consumers: TAXIARCHIS HATZIDIMITRIADIS
- Representing 108 Consumers: DAVID M BARSHAY
- Representing 104 Consumers: ADRIAN ROBERT BACON
- Representing 94 Consumers: ADAM KLEIN
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CFPB Complaint Statistics:
There were 4455 complaints filed against debt collectors from May 01, 2020 to May 31, 2020.
Total number of debt collectors complained about: 769
The types of debt behind the complaints were:
- 1174 Other debt (26%)
- 1124 Credit card debt (25%)
- 1086 I do not know (24%)
- 651 Medical debt (15%)
- 159 Auto debt (4%)
- 127 Payday loan debt (3%)
- 59 Mortgage debt (1%)
- 39 Private student loan debt (1%)
- 36 Federal student loan debt (1%)
Here is a breakdown of complaints:
- 2383 Attempts to collect debt not owed (53%)
- 1029 Written notification about debt (23%)
- 395 False statements or representation (9%)
- 331 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (7%)
- 263 Communication tactics (6%)
- 54 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (1%)
The top five subissues were:
- 1084 Debt is not yours (24%)
- 807 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (18%)
- 780 Debt was result of identity theft (18%)
- 448 Debt was paid (10%)
- 327 Attempted to collect wrong amount (7%)
The top states complaints were filed from are:
- 649 Complaints: TX
- 499 Complaints: FL
- 455 Complaints: CA
- 359 Complaints: GA
- 192 Complaints: NY
- 164 Complaints: OH
- 141 Complaints: MA
- 135 Complaints: IL
- 129 Complaints: PA
- 101 Complaints: VA
The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:
- 3670 Closed with explanation (82%)
- 347 In progress (8%)
- 328 Closed with non-monetary relief (7%)
- 91 Untimely response (2%)
- 19 Closed with monetary relief (0%)
This includes 4310 (97%) timely responses to complaints, and 145 (3%) untimely responses.