Doug Henwood wrote:
> <http://www.abiworld.org/stats/ag2401.html>
>
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
> Contact: Pam Shepherd
> (703) 739-0800
> pshepherd at abiworld.org
>
>
> New Bankruptcy Filings Break Quarterly Record
>
> August 24, 2001, Alexandria, Va. - The number of new bankruptcies
> filed during the second quarter of calendar year 2001 (April 1 to
> June 30) rose 24.5 percent over the same period a year ago. Filings
> increased from 321,729 to 400,394, making this the highest
> three-month period ever, according to data released today by the
> Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
>
> Filings are now on track to surpass the recording-breaking year of
> 1998, when 1,442,549 new cases were filed. In the first six months
> of this year, 767,235 new cases were filed. That is an increase of
> 21 percent over the first half of last year, when 634,064 cases were
> filed, and an increase of 5.4 percent over the first half of 1998,
> when 727,578 cases were filed. The number of second quarter
> bankruptcies also eclipses the previous three-month record during the
> second quarter of 1998, when 373,460 new cases filed.
>
> "The figures for the first half of this year are alarming, if not
> shocking," said Samuel J. Gerdano, Executive Director of the American
> Bankruptcy Institute (ABI). "While we expected the second quarter to
> be high, given historic patterns, breaking the 400,000 mark sets a
> pace for a new bankruptcy record this year, shattering the 1998
> record of 1.4 million total cases."
>
> Of the total number of bankruptcy filings for the 12-month period
> ending June 30, there were 972,659 chapter 7 filings, a 9.8 percent
> increase from 885,447 chapter 7 bankruptcies filed in the same period
> in 2000. The next largest group of filings is chapter 13. These
> increased by 6 percent from 380,770 for the same period in 2000 to
> 403,418. Chapter 11 filings increased 3.3 percent from 9,947 to
> 10,272. Chapter 12 filings saw a significant decrease, falling 72
> percent in the 3-month period from to 732 to 206. This drop is
> mainly due to the expiration of chapter 12 on July 1, 2000.
>
> Of the total number of bankruptcy filings for the 3-month period
> ending June 30, chapter 7 filings increased by 30.3 percent from
> 225,024 to 293,228. Chapter 13 filings also saw an increase during
> the first quarter. They rose by 11 percent from 93,783 to 104,154.
> Chapter 11 filings showed a 4.5 percent increase from 2,711 to
> 2,832. And as in the 12-month period, chapter 12 filings drastically
> decreased by 20.4 percent from 201 in the second quarter 2000 to 160
> in the second quarter 2001.
>
> The chapter* breakdown of non-business filings for the 12-month
> period ending June 30, 2001, is: 950,724 chapter 7s, 745 chapter 11s,
> and 397,996 chapter 13s.
>
> The chapter breakdown of non-business filings for the 3-month period
> ending June 30, 2001, is: 287,040 chapter 7s, 218 chapter 11s, and
> 102,804 chapter 13s.
> Districts with the Highest Percentage INCREASE in Total Filings for
> the 12-month period from July 1, 2001 to June 30, 2001 (compared to
> the identical period in 2000)
>
> 1. District for the Northern Mariana Islands 43.8%
> 2. District of Guam 28.4%
> 3. Eastern District of North Carolina 25.2%
> 4. Northern District of Mississippi 25.1%
> 5. Southern District of West Virginia 23.9%
> 6. Eastern District of Arkansas 23.5%
> 7. Northern District of Iowa 22.4%
> 8. Southern District of Alabama 21.5%
> 9. Southern District of Iowa 20.6%
> District of Utah 20.6%
> 10. Middle District of Tennessee 20.4%
>
>
> Districts with the Highest Percentage DECREASE in Total Filings for
> the 12-month period from July 1, 2001 to June 30, 2001 (compared to
> the identical period in 2000)
>
> 1. District of Delaware 18.4%
> 2. Northern District of California 15.9%
> 3. District of Puerto Rico 12 %
> 4. Central District of California 7.5%
> 5. Southern District of California 6.3%
> 6. District of Columbia 6 %
> 7. District of Hawaii 4.5%
> 8. Eastern District of California 4 %
> 9. District of New Hampshire 1.9%
> 10. District of Rhode Island 1.7%
>
>
> More information will be available on Monday at
> http://www.abiworld.org/stats/newstatsfront.html.
>
> ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, non-partisan organization
> dedicated to research and education on matters related to
> insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the
> public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI
> membership includes more than 8,000 attorneys, accountants, bankers,
> judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other
> bankruptcy professionals, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas
> and information. For additional information on ABI, visit ABI World
> at http://www.abiworld.org. For additional conference information,
> visit http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html.
>
> *Definitions from Bankruptcy Overview: Issues, Law and Policy, by the
> American Bankruptcy Institute
>
> Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code is available to both individual and
> business debtors. Its purpose is to achieve a fair distribution to
> creditors of the debtor's available non-exempt property. Unsecured
> debts not reaffirmed are discharged, providing a fresh financial
> start.
>
> Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code is available for both business and
> consumer debtors. Its purpose is to rehabilitate a business as a
> going concern or reorganize an individual's finances through a
> court-approved reorganization plan.
>
> Chapter 12 of the Bankruptcy Code is designed to give special debt
> relief to a family farmer with regular income from farming. Chapter
> 12 expired on June 30, 2000, and was not reenacted until June 26,
> 2001.
>
> Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code is available for an individual with
> regular income whose debts do not exceed specific amounts; typically
> used to budget some of the debtor's future earnings under a plan
> through which creditors are paid in whole or in part.
>
> ###
--
Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929
Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu