BANKRUPTCY FILINGS SLOW DRASTICALLY
November 22, 2005
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In the month since a new bankruptcy law took effect, the number of Americans filing for protection from their creditors has slowed to a trickle, running at one-tenth the normal number of filings, the Washington Post reported today. Last week, the nation’s federal bankruptcy courts received about 3,600 petitions, according to Lundquist Consulting, a California–based financial research firm that tracks bankruptcy data from the nation’s courts. In a usual week, about 30,000 cases are filed. In the week before Oct. 17, the number of cases filed reached 479,430, Lundquist said. The previous week, petitions totaled 124,037.That surge explains why filings are so low now, Maryland lawyer Brett Weiss said. “Just about everyone who was even thinking of filing filed before Oct. 17,” he said.
