David Goch, Washington Legislative Counsel | July 28, 2010

According to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts' recently released report to Congress on BAPCPA, “2009 Report of Statistics Required by the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005,” in calendar year 09, nearly 1.4 million consumer bankruptcy petitions were filed, a 32 %increase over calendar year 2008.

Other report findings:

• Roughly 71% of 09 filings were Chapter 7, up from 08’s 66%;
• Approximately 29% of 09 filings were Chapter 13, down 34 percent from 08; and
• Less than 1% of 09 filings were Chapter 11.

The report also addressed Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 9011 sanctions imposed against debtors' attorneys for improper or frivolous representations to the court submitted in any petition, pleading, written motion, or other paper.

According to the report, of the 1,060,299 consumer cases examined in the covered period, sanctions were imposed against debtors' attorneys in 9 cases. Sanctions were imposed in 5 Chapter 7 consumer cases, and damages totaling $1,000 were awarded in one case in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of New York.

Of 156,494 Chapter 13 consumer cases examined, sanctions were assessed in 4 cases, with no damages awarded.

No sanctions were imposed in any Chapter 11 consumer cases.

A copy of the report is available: http://www.uscourts.gov/uscourts/Statistics/BankruptcyStatistics/BAPCPA/2009/2009BAPCPA.pdf.