Bankruptcy Filing Set New Record in Calendar Year 2002

A more thorough analysis of the 2002 bankruptcy filings will be published in next month's newsletter.

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts reported that a new record high in bankruptcy filings was established for the 2002 calendar year. There were a total of 1,577,651 petitions filed during the 12-month period ending December 31, 2002, an increase of 5.7% from the previous year, when 1,492,129 petitions were filed. The previous record for filings in any 12-month period was recorded in the Judiciary's fiscal year 2002 (October 1, 2001-September 30, 2002) when 1,547,669 filings were reported.

The vast majority of petitions filed during 2002 were non-business cases; in fact 97.6% of all cases filed in 2002 were non-business cases. The most noteworthy statistic, however, occurred in the remaining 2.4% of the total cases filed, the business cases. In 2002, despite a record number of total filings and in what was widely recognized as a soft economy, the total number of business cases actually fell by 3.9%, dropping from 40,099 filings at the end of 2001 to 38,540 at the close of 2002. In addition, this reduction in business filings during the 2002 calendar year occurred in both Chapter 11 cases (355 fewer) and Chapter 7 cases (1161 fewer).

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts has also reported that the Judicial Conference has recommended to leadership in the 108th Congress that 36 new bankruptcy judgeships be created in 22 judicial districts across the nation. No new bankruptcy judgeships have been created since 1992. The 107th Congress considered, but did not pass legislation to create additional bankruptcy judgeships.

A more thorough analysis of the 2002 bankruptcy filings will be published in next month's newsletter.