Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 11, 1995                   TAG: 9501110059
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BANKRUPTCIES INCREASE IN '94

The number of bankruptcy cases filed in Western Virginia increased 6.3 percent last year. Because of the number of coalfields filings, the Roanoke division led the way.

John W.L. Craig II, clerk of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Western Virginia, reported Tuesday that 5,858 cases were filed last year, compared with 5,511 in 1993.

Last year, in fact, was the third-largest year for filings in the federal court's Western Virginia district, outdone only by 1991 and 1992. The court's filings peaked in 1991 with 6,846 bankruptcies.

The court's Roanoke division grew at the highest rate, 8.6 percent, Craig said. Filings in the Harrisonburg division rose by 5.4 percent; in Lynchburg they increased by 3.5 percent. Craig predicts a 6 to 8 percent increase in filings this year.

Craig said Roanoke is the largest division, extending from Bedford County to the state's western borders. That includes the coalfields.

The Roanoke division's economy is different from the rest of the state, Craig said, but he added that the number of cases rose, although less dramatically, throughout the district.

Craig said he believes cases will continue to increase into 1995 because every trend in the district, whether it's an increase or decrease, is led by coalfields companies' filings.

The number from the far southwest communities, Craig said, was "really on an uptick" at the end of last year. He said November and December may have been the busiest ever for those two months in the Roanoke division. Filings increased for every category of bankruptcy.

Craig said the number of Chapter 13 cases, which are wage-earner plans for repayment of debts, continued their gradual rise compared with other cases. They constituted nearly 15.5 percent of all cases last year compared with 15.3 percent the prior year.

Chapter 11 for reorganization and protection from creditors and Chapter 12 for cases involving family farms also increased from 1.2 percent of total filings the prior year to almost 1.5 percent in 1994.

The overwhelming number of cases - 83 percent - were for liquidation.