Nevada bankruptcies up by more than 50 percent

Bankruptcy filings in Nevada were up 58.6 percent in 2009 as businesses and individuals struggled with foreclosures, unemployment and other financial troubles.

Bankruptcies in the state rose to 29,170 filings from 18,389 in 2008, numbers released Thursday by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of Nevada show.

Nevada outpaced national filings, which increased 32 percent last year to 1.4 million filings, according to the Automated Access to Court Electronic Records.

The state led the country in filings per capita with 11.2 in every 1,000 residents seeking bankruptcy court protection. Tennessee, last year’s top state, had 8.6 filings per 1,000 residents in 2009.

California led the nation in the number of filings with 205,705 filings followed by Florida with 95,409 filings.

Brian D. Shapiro, a local bankruptcy trustee and attorney, said it is too early to tell if the state’s economy is improving enough to spark a decline in filings this year.

“I personally don’t see it slowing down,” Shapiro said. “I don’t see the economy making a turn yet, unfortunately.”

Month-to-month, Nevada filings increased 8.3 percent to 2,294 in December from 2,118 filings in November, and year-to-year filings were up 34.2 percent from last December.

Chapter 7 liquidations accounted for the bulk of the bankruptcy filings with 1,736 statewide in December and 20,955 for the year.

Chapter 7 cases are filed by individuals, married couples and businesses,

Chapter 13 cases, which require court-ordered repayments under three- to five-year plans, were also up last year, with 7,785 cases filed in 2009 compared with 5,469 in 2008.

There were 430 Chapter 11 filings, in which businesses seek protection while trying to reorganize their debts, last year. That is 44.8 percent more than were filed in the previous two years combined.

Some of the high-profile Chapter 11 cases that were filed last year include locals gaming company Station Casinos, developer Jim Rhodes’ real estate companies and the 2,675-acre Park Highlands master plan in North Las Vegas.

Just two weeks into 2010, Shapiro said the number of filings already indicate this will be another rough year for Nevadans looking to climb out from debt.

There have been 620 bankruptcy filings between Jan. 1 and Jan. 14, according to a review of the court’s electronic filing system. That is an 85.6 percent increase from the 334 cases filed at this time last year. Chapter 7 filings are up to 411, compared to 197 in the first two weeks of last year.

So far this year, the highest-profile bankruptcy filing has been by the Las Vegas Monorail Co., which filed for Chapter 11 protection Wednesday.

Contact reporter Arnold M. Knightly at aknightly@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893.