The North Carolina Bankruptcy Information Blog

Blockbuster Video, the ubiquitous blue-and-yellow beacon of home video rental, is rumored to be finally pushing play on a long-rumored bankruptcy.

It has been reported by several industry sources and the LA Times that Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes has been paying visits to Hollywood honchos with several golf carts full of restructuring consultants and senior secured-debt holders to discuss the status of his business and its more-than-likely pre-assembled bankruptcy. Blockbuster relies heavily on studio partnerships to provide new releases of big-budget movies. Access to these films is what has been keeping Blockbuster relevant, despite the rise of online rental companies like NetFlix, a model Blockbuster has been trying to emulate.…

While details of super-sized corporate failures, like GM and Chrysler, are being splashed across front pages of newspapers and websites, grabbing our attention and garnering an inordinate amount of debate, the reality is that the vast majority of commercial bankruptcies are filed by entrepreneurs and small-business owners. The first five months of this year have shown a 52% increase in the total number of commercial bankruptcy filings. On average, during the first six months of 2009, some 350 commercial enterprises file for bankruptcy daily — an increase of 240% from 2006, the first year after the bankruptcy law was changed.

Today’s economic landscape has proven to be especially toxic to small business owners.…

Bucking the trend, 2008 was a prosperous time for Delta Dental – the largest dental benefits carrier in the country. And things were looking good for 2009 as well. In fact, Delta Dental employees in Okemos, Michigan were getting ready for a significant office expansion – last year the company announced it planned to tack on an additional 25,000 square feet of office space in 2009. But then . . . GM filed bankruptcy, and all of a sudden 2009 doesn’t look so promising anymore.

You might be wondering what GM’s bankruptcy has to do with Delta Dental. Sure, we’ve all heard about the obvious trickle down effects of GM’s plight – major layoffs and cutbacks at scores of auto industry businesses in GM’s chain of production and supply.…

Some 330,477 people filed bankruptcy between January and March of this year. Do the math. That’s an average of more than 110,000 filings per month, 27,500 per month, and just shy of 1,000 per day. These numbers are up ten percent over last quarter, and 35 percent from a year ago. Indeed, more than 1.2 million people filed bankruptcy between March 2008 and March 2009. The spikes in filing rates are the highest since the fourth quarter of 2005, when record numbers of Americans rushed to file bankruptcy before Congress enacted tougher bankruptcy laws. California saw the worst of it this past quarter, weighing in with a total of almost 43,000 filings.…

The Chrysler bankruptcy saga continues. As you’ve undoubtedly heard by now, in a move to save itself from certain collapse after bankruptcy, Chrysler crafted a deal to sell a big chunk of its assets to the Italian car-maker Fiat, while at the same time shedding most of its debt. The bankruptcy judge handling the case approved the sale last week, finding the deal was necessary to avoid liquidation. Chrysler said if it was forced to liquidate, it would have to eliminate some 38,500 jobs. The deal was set to close on Monday of this week.

But the heads of two Indiana pension funds – the Indiana State Police Pension Fund and the Indiana Teachers’ Retirement Fund – and Indiana’s Major Moves Construction Fund appealed the judge’s order to the Second Circuit U.S.…

As a result of General Motors and Chrysler filing bankruptcy, thousands of dealerships across the country will be shutting the garage doors and deflating their obnoxious balloon animals and banners. But first, many of them will be liquidating cars at prices that, even for a car dealer, can be considered “Out of this World!”

So if you are on your way out of bankruptcy and the time has come to for a new ride, will you be able to get a car from a dealer? Of course. Let’s discuss it.

Keep in mind that dealers are now in the business of financing cars, not selling them.…

So bankruptcy filing rates for individuals and businesses are up – way up. They’re expected to hit record levels this year. Indeed, with the recent bankruptcies of GM and Chrysler, we’ve seen some of the biggest filings in U.S. history during this recession. But an even more historic event may be on the horizon: the bankruptcy of the federal government itself.

Well before the auto giants filed bankruptcy, the federal government threw billions and billions in “bailout” money at GM and Chrysler, along with AIG, Citigroup, and other flailing banking industry giants. Then, of course, there’s the crash of the housing market, which has been also very costly to the federal government.…

You’ve undoubtedly been following the news of GM’s steady march toward bankruptcy – whether you intended to or not. The media blitz on this issue has been intense, and relentless. They’ve been recycling the same questions: Will GM be forced to file? If so, when? Will the taxpayers foot the bill? If so, how much will it cost? How will the bankruptcy process work, and what can we expect to see when (or if) GM emerges on the other side?

Well, all these questions were answered with Monday’s announcement that the Obama administration has pledged $30 billion in taxpayer money to finance a Chapter 11 bankruptcy for GM, through which the auto giant will endeavor to divide itself into two companies – one holding the “good” assets (and the proverbial key to its future success, so the theory goes) and the other holding all the baggage from the days gone bad, soon to be just a relic of the pre-Green past.…

A number of reports have surfaced in recent weeks offering predictions of a return to growth in the economy by the end of this year. No one disputes the value of positive thinking, especially in troubled times such as these. But positive predictions made prematurely, or based upon an incomplete set of facts, can create false hopes and unrealistic expectations, which can actually be counterproductive. Unfortunately, the recent predictions of an impending turn-around in the economy appear to be of this sort.

Just look at the unemployment rate. It has been steadily on the rise for months now. Last month alone, some 539,000 jobs disappeared.…