|
Business bankruptcy filings nationwide fell 4.5 percent in the July-to-September quarter, according to Automated Access to Court Electronic Records, a bankruptcy management and data company.
That's the first quarterly decline since the overhaul of bankruptcy laws in 2005.
In Idaho, the number of commercial bankruptcy filing dropped by 7 percent, from 237 to 220.
Consumer bankruptcy filings continued a streak of 15 consecutive quarterly increases dating back to enactment of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act in October 2005, according to AACER. Filings rose in Idaho, too, by 3 percent, from 1,797 to 1,852.
However, the third-quarter increase was the smallest quarterly increase since AACER began tracking the data in 2006.
Robert Lawless, a law professor at the University of Illinois and a bankruptcy expert, said the filing rate for all bankruptcies still hovers at about 6,000 a day - a rate that has held fairly steady since March.
Personal bankruptcies, which topped 1 million for the year in September, dominate the filings; commercial bankruptcies account for only about 350 filings a day.
The business bankruptcy filings reported by AACER are typically higher than official government figures.
AACER President Mike Bickford said his company records any filing as a commercial bankruptcy if, instead of a Social Security number, the petition is filed with a taxpayer identification number or with some other indication that it's a commercial case, such as the phrase "doing business as."
Included in these filings are many sole proprietors whose bankruptcy petitions wouldn't be considered business filings under government tallies.
|
