Consumer statute lawsuits filed against collection agencies and creditors jumped to 530 in the first half of September, compared with 467 in the second half of August, according to data from U.S. District Courts.
The total includes 456 lawsuits citing Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) violations, 90 lawsuits citing Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) infractions, 32 cases citing Truth-in-Lending Act violations and 11 lawsuits citing Telephone Consumer Protection Act violations, according to WebRecon LLC, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based company that pulls the data from the courts.
An estimated 616 different collection agencies and creditors were sued between Sept. 1-15, down both from 469 between Aug. 16-31 and 492 between Aug. 1-15.
Of the lawsuits filed in September's first half, there are an estimated 587 unique plaintiffs. Of the plaintiffs, an estimated 182 previously sued under consumer statutes. Combined, these plaintiffs have fed an estimated 1,041 lawsuits since 2001.
Year-to-date, consumers have filed 8,910 lawsuits, including 8,106 citing FDCPA violations and 986 FCRA cases.
Shireen Hormozdi was the most active consumer attorney in the most recent half-month period. For the year, David M. Larson (243 lawsuits) and Craig T. Kimmel (197) are the most active attorneys.
The top courts for lawsuits in the Sept. 1-15 period were: Colorado (Denver) District Court, 28; Illinois (Chicago) Northern District Court, 26; and California (Los Angeles) Central District Court (25).
