Quick analysis: Litigation Up Across the Board: FCRA Weakest in October, but Strongest in 2019
FDCPA, TCPA and FCRA litigation were all up in October over the previous month, though what has consistently been the strongest statute in filing strength (FCRA) was far weaker than the two that have been traditionally dropping (FDCPA and TCPA). YTD trends stayed on track though, with FCRA posting a strong +8.7% increase so far in 2019, while FDCPA and TCPA were both down, -9.3% and -16% respectively.
In other news, putative class actions were typical last month with 17.4% of FDCPA, 30.5% of TCPA and 6.2% of FCRA lawsuits filed that way.
About 34% of all plaintiffs who filed suit last month had filed at least once before.
And finally, New York attorney Craig B. Sanders reclaimed the top spot for consumer attorneys, representing more consumers (49) than anyone else last month. Sanders is also at the top of the list YTD (by far) with 379 consumers represented in 2019 so far. Connecticut attorney Sergei Lemberg, who filed the most lawsuits last month was not even in the top ten this month.
| Current Month: | Previous Month: | Previous Year: |
Year to Date: | Year to Date Comp: |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 01, 2019 Oct 31, 2019 |
Sep 01, 2019 Sep 30, 2019 |
Oct 01, 2018 Oct 31, 2018 |
Jan 01, 2019 Oct 31, 2019 |
Jan 01, 2018 Oct 31, 2018 |
|||||
| CFPB | 3999 | 4015 | -0.4% | 4121 | -3.0% | 39952 | 45106 | -11.4% | |
| FDCPA | 674 | 637 | 5.8% | 738 | -8.7% | 7039 | 7760 | -9.3% | |
| FCRA | 436 | 430 | 1.4% | 354 | 23.2% | 4163 | 3831 | 8.7% | |
| TCPA | 246 | 221 | 11.3% | 341 | -27.9% | 2767 | 3296 | -16.0% | |
Complaint Statistics:
3999 consumers filed CFPB complaints, and about 1230 consumers filed lawsuits under consumer statutes from Oct 01, 2019 to Oct 31, 2019.
- 3999 CFPB Complaints
- 674 FDCPA, 117 Class Action (17.4%)
- 246 TCPA, 75 Class Action (30.5%)
- 436 FCRA, 27 Class Action (6.2%)
Litigation Summary (scroll down for CFPB data):
- Of those cases, there were about 1230 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
- Of those plaintiffs, about 424, or (34%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
- Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 5019 lawsuits since 2001
- Actions were filed in 173 different US District Court branches.
- About 798 different collection firms and creditors were sued.
The top courts where lawsuits were filed:
- 65 Lawsuits: Georgia Northern District Court – Atlanta
- 61 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
- 54 Lawsuits: Nevada District Court – Las Vegas
- 54 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Tampa
- 32 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
- 30 Lawsuits: New Jersey District Court – Newark
- 27 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
- 27 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Fort Lauderdale
- 25 Lawsuits: Florida Middle District Court – Orlando
- 25 Lawsuits: Indiana Southern District Court – Indianapolis
The most active consumer attorneys were:
- Representing 49 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 43 Consumers: DAVID H KRIEGER
- Representing 35 Consumers: MILES N CLARK
- Representing 35 Consumers: MATTHEW I KNEPPER
- Representing 34 Consumers: DAVID M BARSHAY
- Representing 33 Consumers: PAUL JONATHAN SIEG
- Representing 31 Consumers: DAVID SCOTT KLAIN
- Representing 29 Consumers: MATTHEW THOMAS BERRY
- Representing 25 Consumers: DAVID M MARCO
- Representing 22 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
Statistics Year to Date:
11965 total lawsuits for 2019, including:
- 7039 FDCPA
- 4163 FCRA
- 2767 TCPA
Number of Unique Plaintiffs for 2019: 11324 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)
The most active consumer attorneys of the year:
- Representing 379 Consumers: CRAIG B SANDERS
- Representing 317 Consumers: ANTRANIG N GARIBIAN
- Representing 286 Consumers: SERGEI LEMBERG
- Representing 282 Consumers: NATHAN CHARLES VOLHEIM
- Representing 254 Consumers: TAXIARCHIS HATZIDIMITRIADIS
- Representing 237 Consumers: JONATHAN FORREST RABURN
- Representing 220 Consumers: DAVID M BARSHAY
- Representing 218 Consumers: DAVID SCOTT KLAIN
- Representing 210 Consumers: DAVID W HEMMINGER
- Representing 181 Consumers: PAUL JONATHAN SIEG
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CFPB Complaint Statistics:
There were 3999 complaints filed against debt collectors from Oct 01, 2019 to Oct 31, 2019.
Total number of debt collectors complained about: 790
The types of debt behind the complaints were:
- 1014 Other debt (25%)
- 990 I do not know (25%)
- 892 Credit card debt (22%)
- 658 Medical debt (16%)
- 133 Auto debt (3%)
- 105 Payday loan debt (3%)
- 77 Mortgage debt (2%)
- 72 Federal student loan debt (2%)
- 58 Private student loan debt (1%)
Here is a breakdown of complaints:
- 1979 Attempts to collect debt not owed (49%)
- 811 Written notification about debt (20%)
- 404 Communication tactics (10%)
- 367 False statements or representation (9%)
- 340 Took or threatened to take negative or legal action (9%)
- 98 Threatened to contact someone or share information improperly (2%)
The top five subissues were:
- 914 Debt is not yours (23%)
- 617 Debt was result of identity theft (15%)
- 557 Didnt receive enough information to verify debt (14%)
- 378 Debt was paid (9%)
- 257 Attempted to collect wrong amount (6%)
The top states complaints were filed from are:
- 431 Complaints: TX
- 406 Complaints: FL
- 394 Complaints: CA
- 269 Complaints: NY
- 207 Complaints: GA
- 177 Complaints: SC
- 146 Complaints: IL
- 129 Complaints: NJ
- 117 Complaints: MI
- 110 Complaints: VA
The status of the month’s complaints are as follows:
- 3188 Closed with explanation (80%)
- 364 In progress (9%)
- 327 Closed with non-monetary relief (8%)
- 93 Untimely response (2%)
- 27 Closed with monetary relief (1%)
This includes 3860 (97%) timely responses to complaints, and 139 (3%) untimely responses.