Bankruptcy Knoxville

Our last post described a 50% increase in middle Florida bankruptcies, one of the hardest hit areas of the current recession. Nationwide the number is not quite as bad, about 34%. And apparently there is a rising number of cases due to medical debts. The number of business filings is up about 52% year over year. Across the nation, nearly 300,000 more cases were filed on behalf of individuals. The ABA Journal explains:

The number of federal bankruptcy cases is up more than 34 percent for the 12 months ending Sept. 30—the end of the federal judiciary’s fiscal year—than it was for the prior 12 months, according to statistics released today.

Business filings are up 52 percent over 2008 (58,271 from 38,651) while nonbusiness filings are 34 percent higher (1,344,095 from 1,004,342), according to an Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts news release.

Meanwhile, the New York Times reported today about a “general sense among bankruptcy lawyers and court officials … that the share of personal bankruptcies caused by illness is growing.”