Lawsuit Numbers Reach Record High in 2015: WebRecon

The number of lawsuits alleging violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act set new records in 2015, while suits alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act had it’s second-highest yearly total ever, according to data published yesterday by WebRecon.

There were 3,710 TCPA litigants in 2015, up from 2,558 a year earlier, while there the number of FCRA suits jumped to 3,751, from 2,445. The number of FDCPA lawsuits came in at 11,697, up from 10,071 in 2014 and just below the all-time home of 12,237 in 2011. The number of FDCPA suits had declined for three consecutive years between 2012 and 2015.

As well, the number of unique plaintiffs exploded in 2015, with 15,854 litigants filing suits in 2015, according to WebRecon.

Perhaps a harbinger of a new trend, 42% of the individuals in December who filed lawsuits had done so previously, a number that is about 20% higher than usual. For the entire year, 35% of litigants had previously filed a lawsuit against a collection company. Todd Friedman took first place as the attorney who represented the most litigants, at 365. Friedman was followed by Craig Sanders (332) and Sergei Lemberg (250).

For December, the number of FCRA and TCPA lawsuits and complaints filed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau were all up compare with November, while the number of FDCPA lawsuits was 6% lower.