Epiq, a global leader in legal services, released its October 2020 bankruptcy filing statistics from its AACER business. Overall, bankruptcy filings across all chapters were down 40.7% for October over the same period last year. There was a total of 40,209 new filings, which is down from 67,857 a year ago. So far in 2020, bankruptcy filings across all chapters are down 29% over the same period last year. There was a total of 460,269 new filings compared to the same period last year of 648,525 new filings.

New potential economy stimulus uncertainty and the election keep filings at bay

NEW YORK – NOV 4, 2020 – Epiq, a global leader in legal services, released its October 2020 bankruptcy filing statistics from its AACER business. Overall, bankruptcy filings across all chapters were down 40.7% for October over the same period last year. There was a total of 40,209 new filings, which is down from 67,857 a year ago. So far in 2020, bankruptcy filings across all chapters are down 29% over the same period last year. There was a total of 460,269 new filings compared to the same period last year of 648,525 new filings.

Year to date, Commercial Chapter 11 filings are up year-over-year by 30% with a total of 6,081 new filings, compared to 4,677 in the same period last year. However, new Commercial Chapter 11 filings in October were down 26.5% compared to September, with a total of 550 new filings compared to the previous month’s 749 filings.

“The lull in corporate filings is due to abundant liquidity which has enabled distressed companies to stabilize in the short term.  Companies will need to assess the longer-term impact of a slower recovery with a more significant disruption to their business, says Deidre O’Connor, managing director at Epiq corporate restructuring.”

“Non-commercial bankruptcy filing activity continues its steep decline due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Chris Kruse, senior vice president of Epiq AACER. “The various stimulus programs put in place earlier in the year created enough liquidity to stave off normal bankruptcy activity.”

So far in 2020, new Chapter 13 and Chapter 7 filings were down 44% and 21%, respectively. Chapter 13 Non-Commercial filings was 128,700 compared to 231,688 in the same period last year. Year-to-date Chapter 7 non-commercial filings was 302,745, compared to 382,625 in the same period last year.

About Epiq AACER
Epiq AACER provides a bankruptcy information services platform built with superior data, technology and expertise to create insights and mitigate risks for businesses impacted by bankruptcies. Learn more at www.aacer.com.

About Epiq
Epiq, a global leader in the legal services industry, takes on large-scale, increasingly complex tasks for corporate counsel, law firms, and business professionals with efficiency, clarity, and confidence. Clients rely on Epiq to streamline the administration of business operations, class action and mass tort, court reporting, eDiscovery, regulatory, compliance, restructuring, and bankruptcy matters. Epiq subject-matter experts and technologies create efficiency through expertise and deliver confidence to high-performing clients around the world. Learn more at https://www.epiqglobal.com.

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Epiq
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