On August 12, 2021, Lex Machina hosted a webcast on the recently released Consumer Protection Litigation Report 2021. The webcast featured guest speaker Michael Cardoza, Consumer Financial Protection Attorney at Cardoza Law Corporation, and Laura Hopkins, Legal Data Expert at Lex Machina and the author of the report, with Neil Magenheim, Director of Client Relations at Lex Machina, moderating. They discussed overarching trends in Consumer Protection litigation including cases filed, active law firms and parties, timing metrics, case resolutions, findings, and damages. The discussion covered data and analytics on the following areas:

  • Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA)
  • Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
  • Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)
  • Data Breach
  • Federal Trade Commission (FTC) / Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Enforcement
  • Unfair / Deceptive Trade Practices (UDTP)
  • Class Actions

“What I can see with Lex Machina and the data is [that] I can see behavior, and [I] know one of the biggest indicators of someone’s future behavior is their past behavior,” noted Michael Cardoza. “Right now, I’ve got a window on it from the strategic level, all the way down to the tactical level. So I can see which defendants are, for example, advancing what theories, where, and if they’re being successful and if so, how? I can see before I even file suit or even consider taking a case which defendants are amenable to suit and then how they’ll typically conduct their initial phases of litigation. I can tell who traditionally represents them. I mean, all down to the numbers. I can see exactly what motions they’ve used, in what venues, and what oppositions have been successful and which haven’t.

“Then I also have a window into the behavior of the bench. I can tell which benches are, for example, more likely to reach for an MSJ disposal and under what circumstances that’s likely to happen. So these are just two or three examples of how this thing gives you a window into the behavior that’s happening around us all the time.”

Listen to a  recording of the webcast or read the transcript.