Bankruptcy filings dropped in Oklahoma's federal courts in 2011, reflecting a national trend.
Michael Williams, court clerk for the Northern District of Oklahoma U.S. Bankruptcy Court, said that bankruptcies in the Tulsa-based district dropped to 3,711 in 2011 from 4,406 in 2010. It was the first drop after four straight years of increases, according to statistics provided by the court.
The same downturn was in evidence in the state's other two federal districts.
Grant Price, court clerk for the Oklahoma City-based Western District of Oklahoma U.S. Bankruptcy Court, said the number of cases filed there totaled 7,009 in 2011 after being at 7,749 in 2010; 7,397 in 2009; 5,955 in 2008; 4,737 in 2007; and 3,571 in 2006.
C. Fred Burks, chief deputy clerk for the Eastern District of Oklahoma Bankruptcy Court in Okmulgee, also reported that cases filed there fell to 2,009 in 2011 after steadily rising from 1,158 in 2006 to 2,351 in 2010.
Nationally, statistics for the 2011 calendar year are not yet available. However, in early November, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts reported that for the fiscal year 2011 - the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30 - filings were down about 8 percent.
Bankruptcy cases filed nationally totaled 1,467,221 from Oct., 1, 2010 until Sept. 30, 2011 down from 1,596,355 in the previous fiscal year.
The last downturn in bankruptcy cases before this was easy to explain. Filings were way down in 2006 after a then-new law caused an explosion in cases in 2005.
The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act went into effect Oct. 17, 2005. More than 2 million Americans - an all-time high - petitioned for bankruptcy in 2005, with 619,588 filings nationwide in October 2005 alone.
The rush of cases reflected an urgency among the general public in '05 that they had better file for bankruptcy before the law changes because it might not be possible later.
While the 2005 law didn't actually lock the proverbial doors to the nation's bankruptcy courts, it did establish tighter income limits and set a new standard for measuring a debtor's ability to repay.
The explanation for the downturn in filings in 2011 is harder to figure out.
While some might see it as a sign of an improving economy, that may be too simplistic.
Tulsa attorney Brian Huckabee, who has been doing bankruptcy work for more than 25 years, said there are still plenty of people out of work and no shortage of individuals delinquent on their home loans.
Huckabee said the falling bankruptcy totals may reflect the number of people trying to stave off bankruptcy through mortgage modifications that he said "rarely" are granted by the mortgage companies but often lullhomeowners into a false optimism.
He said the numbers may also show that some who have had to accept lower-paying jobs have learned how to make do with less.
"Maybe financial adversity has taught some lessons about how to avoid living beyond your means," Huckabee said.
Civil, criminal cases also down in Tulsa
The number of civil and criminal cases filed in 2011 in the Tulsa-based Northern District of Oklahoma court also declined.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Faerber said that 187 new criminal cases were filed in the district in 2011, down 10 cases from 2010. The number of civil cases in the Northern District dropped from 859 in 2010 to 832 in 2011, according to the Court Clerk's Office. That reversed a trend that had seen civil case filings rise in U.S. District Court in Tulsa from 759 in 2007 to 809 in 2008 and to 838 in 2009 to 859 in 2010.
However, Rhonda Reynolds, chief deputy clerk for the Oklahoma City-based Western District of Oklahoma court, reported that new civil cases were up for the third straight year in that district. She said 1,558 were filed in 2011 after 1,459 in 2010, 1,447 in 2009 and 1,435 in 2008.
Reynolds said criminal cases in the Western District dropped only slightly in 2011, from 397 to 393.
Eastern District of Oklahoma Court Clerk Bruce Guthrie said there were 85 criminal cases featuring 114 defendants filed in the Muskogee-based Eastern District Court in 2011, continuing a recent slide. There were 108 criminal cases featuring 130 defendants in 2009 and 92 in 2010 with 115 individual defendants, Guthrie said.
Guthrie said there were 461 civil cases filed in the Eastern District in 2011, down from 502 in 2010.
David Harper 918-581-8359
david.harper@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Bankruptcy filings down in Oklahoma
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