Patrick D. West Law Firm, P.C

According to data gathered from the nation’s 90 district bankruptcy courts by the Associated Press,  Bankruptcy case filings in the U.S. were up 32% over the previous year, with over 1.4 million cases submitted to the bankruptcy courts.

The AP reported that in the month of December 2009,  there was an increases of 22% of cases filed, with  116,000 bankruptcy cases being recorded.

The states reporting the highest increases in bankruptcy filings were Arizona  (77 percent increase from 2008) ,  Wyoming (60 percent), Nevada (59 percent) and California (58 percent).