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New insights from Lex Machina®, the LexisNexis® Legal Analytics® platform, reveal a significant shift in San Diego Superior Court’s civil litigation landscape. While overall civil filings have risen since 2022, the increase is almost entirely attributable to a sharp uptick in limited-jurisdiction collections lawsuits, in which creditors or debt-purchasers pursue recovery of alleged debt under $35,000. In 2025, creditors filed more than 32,000 such cases, an increase of more than 65 percent compared to total filings in 2023.
Figure A: Filing Volume for Limited Jurisdiction Collections Lawsuits in San Diego Superior Court
Non-collection matters, by comparison, have remained stable. In fact, San Diego Superior Court fielded hundreds fewer non-collections lawsuits in 2025 (18,784) compared to 2024 (19,046).
A Small Group of High-Volume Creditors Is Driving the Increase
Data from Lex Machina shows that only a handful of creditors and debt purchasers are responsible for most of the recent surge in lawsuits. Capital One, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Portfolio Recovery Associates, American Express National Bank, and Velocity Investments all recorded substantial year-over-year increases in San Diego filings. From 2023 to 2025, several more than doubled their recent historical averages.
Capital One, for example, filed more than 3,000 collections lawsuits in San Diego in 2025, more than doubling their total from the prior year. JPMorgan Chase increased its filings from under one thousand in 2023 to more than 2,500 in 2025. Velocity Investments continued a multi-year upward trend and reached more than 1,400 filings in 2025.
Figure B: Plaintiffs in Collections Lawsuits in San Diego Superior Court, 2021-2025
*Source: Lex Machina, Top Parties Reports for San Diego Superior Court Collections Lawsuits, 2021-2025.
Economic and Technological Influences on Filing Behavior
The accelerating pace of debt-collection lawsuits coincides with increased internal operational capacity among creditors. Many major lenders and debt-buyers describe the use of automation and AI tools in account oversight, collection workflows, and risk modeling on their public websites. Combined with broader economic conditions such as inflation, shifting labor markets, and evolving consumer repayment trends, these capabilities may be enabling higher filing volumes for creditors.
Taken together, the data indicates a concentrated group of large lenders is filing significantly more lawsuits in San Diego. The increasing caseload in San Diego has practical implications for the parties and counsel involved in all cases before the court, and understanding those trends allows counsel to adjust their expectations and strategy recommendations accordingly.
Learn more about Lex Machina and how our platform enables data-driven insights and decisions for civil litigation.
