Epiq: Open Bankruptcy Cases Down 20.6% since April 2020

Epiq, a global technology-enabled services provider to the legal services industry and corporations, released its August 2021 bankruptcy filing statistics from its AACER bankruptcy information services business. Overall, August was flat with 32,225 new filings across all chapters, down slightly from July 2021 with 32,391. Total commercial filings, across all chapters, were up 1% over July 2021 with 1,724 new cases.

The overall bankruptcy market volume has dropped more than 20% since the beginning of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The number of open cases in the U.S. Federal Bankruptcy Courts dropped to 786,059 in August, down from 989,214 in mid-April 2020.

“The programs put in place by the government to bolster personal cash flow and keep people in their homes during the pandemic has had a positive impact on businesses and consumers who would typically file for bankruptcy,” Todd Madsen, senior director of Epiq Bankruptcy Analytics, said. “Conversely, the business of bankruptcy that includes lawyers, judges, trustees and administrative agents is suffering from a historic slow period. These businesses are not immune from pandemic market dynamics.”

So far this year, there have been 291,863 new cases filed across all chapters, down from the same period last year that had 396,113 new filings, a 26.3% decline.