(Source: The Press Democrat, Santa Rosa, Calif)
By Steve Hart, The Press Democrat, Santa Rosa, Calif.
Feb. 07--More than 5,000 consumers and businesses on the North Coast sought protection from their creditors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court last year, an unprecedented wave of financial misery that experts said is unlikely to recede anytime soon.
More than half of the region's bankruptcy filings came from Sonoma County. It is the largest number of cases Judge Alan Jaroslovsky has witnessed in 24 years on the bench at federal bankruptcy court in Santa Rosa.
"I'm numb," said Jaroslovsky, chief judge for the court's Northern District in California.
Bankruptcy filings have grown each year since the recession began in 2007, and there's no sign of a letup.
"I kept thinking it was going to peak," he said. "But our numbers from January are up from last year."
Filings in 2010 almost tripled from 2007, when 1,732 debtors sought relief.
Sonoma County is the bankruptcy hot spot in the North Coast district, which includes Marin, Napa, Lake, Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte counties.
Pushed to the brink by job losses and falling property values, a record 2,574 Sonoma County residents filed bankruptcy last year, up 14 percent from 2009.
"The driving factor is real estate," said Jaroslovsky. "Real estate values are going down and they're not coming back."
Don't expect filings to slack off in 2011, said Douglas Provencher, an attorney who has practiced bankruptcy law in Santa Rosa for 33 years and teaches seminars on the subject.
Even with the economy on the upswing, many are too deep in debt to avoid it.
"They've been struggling for several years and they're reaching the end," Provencher said. "I don't see a lot of improvement."
The fastest growth is in Chapter 13 filings, which can help hard-pressed consumers hold on to their homes. Last year, personal bankruptcies outnumbered business failures by about 20 to 1.
People who have struggled with debt for several years appear to be giving up, Jaroslovsky said.
"They've done what they can to make a go of it. There's a feeling that they're just throwing in the towel," he said.
It's a myth that those who seek bankruptcy protection are reckless spenders who are simply trying to weasel out of their debts, he said.
"Nobody wakes up in the morning and says 'I can hardly wait to file for bankruptcy today,'" he said. "We are talking about people who are down on their luck."
Sonoma County's increase reflected a national trend. U.S.