I recently analyzed bankruptcy data to find out who chapter 7 New York bankruptcy debtors are. The dataset came from the federal courts’ 2016 BAPCPA Report, which contains information on people who file bankruptcy but owe mainly consumer debts. However, not all bankruptcy debtors are consumer debtors, so the post gave incomplete information on how many total bankruptcy cases are filed in the New York City area. To answer how many people file New York bankruptcy or Brooklyn bankruptcy—as well as which chapter they file in—we can look at data appearing in the Statistical Tables for the Federal Judiciary, also provided by the federal courts.
The following table shows the number of bankruptcy filings in 2016 by federal district and chapter. The Eastern District covers five counties: Richmond (Staten Island), Kings (Brooklyn), Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk. The Southern District includes Bronx County and New County, plus a handful of others downstate. I’ve included calculations showing the percent of total filings by district.
Circuit and District | Total Filings | Total Chapter 7 | Total Chapter 9 | Total Chapter 11 | Total Chapter 12 | Total Chapter 13 | Total Chapter 15 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
TOTAL | 794,960 | 490,365 | 8 | 7,292 | 461 | 296,655 | 179 |
NY, E | 12,122 | 8,704 | 0 | 215 | 1 | 3,202 | 0 |
NY, S | 7,778 | 5,500 | 0 | 527 | 1 | 1,680 | 70 |
Percent of Total Filings by District | |||||||
Circuit and District | Total Filings | Total Chapter 7 | Total Chapter 9 | Total Chapter 11 | Total Chapter 12 | Total Chapter 13 | Total Chapter 15 |
TOTAL | 100.0% | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0.9% | 0.1% | 37.3% | 0.0% |
NY, E | 100.0% | 71.8% | 0.0% | 1.8% | 0.0% | 26.4% | 0.0% |
NY, S | 100.0% | 70.7% | 0.0% | 6.8% | 0.0% | 21.6% | 0.9% |
As I noted in the post relying on the BAPCPA Report data, New Yorkers are noticeably more likely to file in chapter 7 than the national average. Also of interest is that there were two chapter 12 filings, which protect farms. Proportionally more people file in chapter 13 in the Eastern District than the Southern District. Finally, the Southern District’s role as a business and financial hub is clear from the elevated number of chapter 11 and chapter 15 filings. In fact, in 2016, the Southern District accounted for 7 percent of all chapter 11 cases and 39 percent of all chapter 15 cases.
The next table separates debtors’ cases by the nature of the debtors’ obligations, again with a section showing the percentage of filings as a share of the total by chapter.
Circuit and District | Total Filings | Predominant Nature of Debt | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Business Filings | Nonbusiness Filings | |||||||||
Total | Chapter 7 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Total | Chapter 7 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 13 | ||
TOTAL | 794,960 | 24,114 | 15,033 | 6,174 | 461 | 2,259 | 770,846 | 475,332 | 1,118 | 294,396 |
NY, E | 12,122 | 496 | 313 | 182 | 1 | 0 | 11,626 | 8,391 | 33 | 3,202 |
NY, S | 7,778 | 857 | 255 | 500 | 1 | 31 | 6,921 | 5,245 | 27 | 1,649 |
Percent of Total by Chapter | ||||||||||
Circuit and District | Total Filings | Predominant Nature of Debt | ||||||||
Business Filings | Nonbusiness Filings | |||||||||
Total Filings | Total | Chapter 7 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Total | Chapter 7 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 13 | |
TOTAL | N/A | 3.0% | 3.1% | 84.7% | 100.0% | 0.8% | 97.0% | 96.9% | 15.3% | 99.2% |
NY, E | N/A | 4.1% | 3.6% | 84.7% | 100.0% | 0.0% | 95.9% | 96.4% | 15.3% | 100.0% |
NY, S | N/A | 11.0% | 4.6% | 94.9% | 100.0% | 1.8% | 89.0% | 95.4% | 5.1% | 98.2% |
It appears that overall, business bankruptcy in multiple chapters is slightly more common in the Eastern District—and much more common in the Southern District—than the national average. For the Southern District, this is true in every chapter. There were more chapter 7 business filings in the Eastern District than the Southern District, but these were offset by more chapter 11 and chapter 13 business cases in the Southern District.
In a table not worth presenting, Table F, I see that while bankruptcy filings fell by nearly 6 percent nationally, they rose in the Southern District by a fraction of a percent and by 5 percent in the Eastern District. This is a reverse in direction from the year before, and it appears filings are on the rise through 2017 as well.
The Statistical Tables for the Federal Judiciary can be found here. The Eastern District of New York maintains its own statistics here, but for some reason they differ from those presented here.
Naturally, the number of people who file bankruptcy doesn’t say whether anyone should file, but the information provided by the government shows how frequently debtors file in each chapter, as well as how common business bankruptcies are. It also tells us that bankruptcy filings are on the rise, which may be a bellwether of future economic troubles, at least in New York. If you are experiencing serious financial hardship, then talking to an experienced New York bankruptcy lawyer can help you strategize your options.
For answers to more questions about bankruptcy, the automatic stay, effective strategies for dealing with foreclosure, and protecting your assets in bankruptcy please feel free to contact experienced Brooklyn bankruptcy attorney Bruce Weiner for a free initial consultation.