FDCPA Lawsuits Soar in First Half of May

The number of lawsuits filed by consumers and their attorneys against ARM firms increased significantly in the first half of May when compared to the second half of April.

The following statistics are provided to the ARM industry courtesy of WebRecon LLC.

FDCPA and Other Consumer Lawsuit Statistics, May 1-15, 2011

There were about 568 lawsuits filed under consumer statutes in the first half of May 2011. Here is an approximate breakdown:

• 550 FDCPA
• 86 TILA
• 44 FCRA
• 5 TCPA

Summary

• Of those cases, there were about 651 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
• Of those plaintiffs, about 189 had sued under consumer statutes before.
• Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 1154 lawsuits since 2001
• Actions were filed in 127 different US District Court branches.
• About 567 different collection firms and creditors were sued.

The top courts where lawsuits were filed:

• 34 Lawsuits: Colorado District Court – Denver
• 30 Lawsuits: Illinois Northern District Court – Chicago
• 27 Lawsuits: California Central District Court – Western Division – Los Angeles
• 25 Lawsuits: Minnesota District Court – DMN
• 20 Lawsuits: Pennsylvania Eastern District Court – Philadelphia
• 15 Lawsuits: Connecticut District Court – New Haven
• 15 Lawsuits: Florida Southern District Court – Miami
• 14 Lawsuits: New York Eastern District Court – Brooklyn
• 13 Lawsuits: California Southern District Court – San Diego
• 13 Lawsuits: New York Western District Court – Buffalo

The most active consumer attorneys were:

• Representing 46 Consumers: Jack Dennis Card, Jr.
• Representing 42 Consumers: Glenn Walters
• Representing 21 Consumers: David Michael Larson
• Representing 20 Consumers: Allison Marie Wolfe
• Representing 15 Consumers: Mark L Vavreck
• Representing 14 Consumers: Sergei Lemberg
• Representing 14 Consumers: David E Wandling
• Representing 11 Consumers: Darin Shaw
• Representing 10 Consumers: Daniel S. Blinn
• Representing 9 Consumers: Gary D. Nitzkin

Statistics Year to Date

5302 total lawsuits for 2011, including:

• 4310 FDCPA
• 510 FCRA
• 468 TILA
• 117 TCPA

Number of Unique Plaintiffs: 5399 (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit)

The most active consumer attorneys of the year:

• Representing 135 Consumers: David Michael Larson
• Representing 123 Consumers: Craig Thor Kimmel
• Representing 86 Consumers: Jack Dennis Card, Jr.
• Representing 81 Consumers: Michael S Agruss
• Representing 74 Consumers: Sergei Lemberg

Creditors and collection firms use WebRecon’s services to easily segregate predictably litigious consumers from their databases. A significant percentage of consumer litigation is initiated by the same consumers over and over again, and screening them out of the general population can reduce lawsuits by as much as a third.