Business bankruptcies jump 64% compared with year ago - Washington Business Journal: Washington Bureau

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The number of business filings was up 11 percent over the total for the fourt h quarterof 2008, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Nearly 10,000 of the businessx filings in the first quarter were Chapter7 liquidations. Chapter 11 reorganizationx accountedfor 3,421 Overall bankruptcy filings, including personal totaled 330,447 in the firstr quarter of 2009, up nearly 35 percent from the same period a year earlier. For the 12-monty period that ended March 31, more than 1.2 milliom bankruptcies were filed -- the highest 12-month total since Congress tightened bankruptcy rules inOctober 2006.
"As unemploymengt figures continue to rise and financingremains elusive, we expect filingsw to surge past 1.4 million cases by said Samuel Gerdano, executive director of the Americaj Bankruptcy Institute. Tennessee had the highest per-capita rate of bankruptcu filings in thefirst quarter, followede by Nevada, Alabama, Georgia and Indiana. Judicia districts with the highest percentage increase in filinge included the Central Districtof California, Arizona, the Southern District of California, Nevada and the Easter n District of California.
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