Credit Card Lawsuits in GA

Close to 5,000,000 consumer debt collection lawsuits are filed every year in the United States.

Close to 5,000,000 consumer debt collection lawsuits are filed every year in the United States. In fact, the number of debt collection lawsuits filed each year is higher than the total of every other type of civil lawsuit combined. The majority of those 5 million lawsuits are based on defaulted credit card accounts. For collection lawyers, 5 million lawsuits per year is more than just a steady stream of business. It’s a firehose.

Yet, surprisingly, with over a million licensed lawyers in the United States, the majority of consumer collection lawsuits are filed by only a small number of firms.

With so many lawsuits just waiting to be filed, a single collection lawyer might handle 5000 cases a year. Even if the collection lawyer works 2500 hours every year, that’s only a half hour per case. To most people, including other lawyers, the math just doesn’t seem possible.

While the balance owed on most credit cards is under $10,000.00, and most cases are filed as small claims, the legal and procedural issues in credit card lawsuits are every bit as complex as any other contract case. So, how can consumer collection lawyers, many of whom are relatively young and new to the practice of law, handle a caseload of 5000, when other contract lawyers would be spread thin by 50 cases a year?

They have a lot of help. Most of that help comes from the very same people they’re suing. Approximately 90% of consumer debtors ignore the lawsuit, fail to respond in time, or represent themselves and end up agreeing to pay a consent judgment before the trial.

Collection attorneys also rely on support staff for court filings, communications, and other administrative tasks. Due to the sheer number of collection cases on court dockets, the collection attorneys also get help from the courts.

In heavily populated areas, courts may schedule trial calendars made up entirely of debt collection cases. While a 1 day calendar call may be loaded up with 50 to 75 cases, it would be impossible to conduct trials in more than 4 or 5 of those cases in a single workday.

Over time, the courts develop formal and ad hoc practices to manage their calendars and expedite the flow of cases. At every calendar call, the same judges see the same attorneys show up with their armload of case files, and a courtroom full of unrepresented defendants. In these moments, the interests of the court and the collection attorneys are in alignment.

The court must ensure due process is followed, but needs to do so in an orderly and expedited manner. The collection attorney needs to settle cases where defendants showed up, and take default judgments in cases where they didn’t show up.

In some courts, the judges allow the collection attorneys to call their own cases on the calendar. While this may seem practical and efficient, to an unrepresented defendant, it can inadvertently give the collection attorney an air of authority or official status. In other courts, judges may order the defendants to speak with the collection attorneys in an attempt to settle the case.

While pre-trial mediation is required by statute in Georgia Magistrate Courts, the tone and delivery of the words can seem more like a command to settle the case. The pre-trial settlement discussions can go on for hours, with cases left unresolved. Most of the cases that aren’t settled end up being continued to another calendar, or dismissed and refiled.

As you can see, the enormous caseloads managed by the collection attorneys are both a weakness and a strength. A consumer debtor may only have one case, but by filing enough civil lawsuits to dominate the court’s dockets, the collection attorney has also imposed an enormous burden and strain on the court’s limited resources.

The Clerk’s offices responsible for filing and administering the collection cases are funded in part by the filing fees on each case. For a metro Atlanta County that receives 100,000 civil filings a year, with filing fees at $200.00 per case, that’s $20,000,000.00. 50% or more of those filing fees are likely coming from collection law firms.

Because the courts and collection attorneys share the burden of resolving the unending number of collection cases, the need for efficiency can also infect legal and procedural aspects of the proceedings. Facing little resistance, collection attorneys have devised numerous “shortcuts,” “patches,” and “work-arounds” to quickly move their heavy case loads through the judicial system, while simultaneously avoiding procedural and legal safeguards designed to ensure due process and the protection of debtors’ legal rights.

Defending a credit card lawsuit involves three things: identifying the “short-cuts” taken by the collection attorney; demanding compliance with the rules of evidence, procedure, and discovery; and raising FDCPA claims in response to misleading and deceptive communications amounting to abusive or unfair collection practices.

To successfully defend a credit card lawsuit, it can be extremely helpful to have an attorney who not only knows the law, but who understands how the debt collection industry works.

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