Nearly One Million Bankruptcy Cases Filed in Last 12 Months
According to data released by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, and discussed in the Los Angeles Times, nearly one million bankruptcy cases were filed between July 1, 2007, and June 30, 2008--a total of 967,831 cases. That represents a 28.9% increase over the preceding 12 month period. And, as discussed on the ABI web site, based on that same data, bankruptcy filings have increased 29.2% in the first half of 2008 relative to the same time period in 2007.
Leading the way in bankruptcy filings is the Ninth Circuit, in particular California. Filings in the Ninth Circuit increased by a staggering 60.9%. This is, of course, no surprise given the catastrophic impact that the real estate downturn has had on the California economy over the last year and a half.
Nationally, Chapter 7 filings increased by 36.7%, Chapter 13 grew by 16.9%, Chapter 11 increased by 30.6%, and Chapter 12 filings actually decreased by 18.7% when compared to the prior 12 months.
As steep as the increases appear, the total number of filings still has a long way to go to match the total amount of filings of even two years ago, as revealed by the Administrative Office's data. For example, take a look at this spread sheet. In the period July 1, 2005 through June 30, 2006, the total number of filings was nearly 1.5 million. Data shows that the years prior to 2006 had similar amounts of cases initiated.
Therefore, although the new data indicates a steep incline, the aggregate filings are still below historical levels.
