Telephone Consumer Protection Act

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) has increasingly become a target for consumers and their attorneys for suits aimed at collection agencies. TCPA suits in August rose 15.4 percent from July and 72 percent compared to August 2012. Year-to-date, TCPA suits are up 65 percent according to an article published by InsideArm.

Summary of August lawsuits:

• There were about 1,118 unique plaintiffs (including multiple plaintiffs in one suit).
• Of those plaintiffs, about 373, or (33.4%), had sued under consumer statutes before.
• Combined, those plaintiffs have filed about 1,974 lawsuits since 2001
• Actions were filed in 152 different US District Court branches.
• About 981 different collection firms and creditors were sued.