The list is growing: JCPenney, Neiman Marcus, Diamond Offshore Drilling, Alta Mesa Resources, Echo Energy, Alta Petroleum, TriPoint Oilfield Services, Sheridan Holding and Stage Stores. More Texas businesses are filing for bankruptcy this year than did during the Great Recession or anytime in the past two decades, and legal experts said the wave of insolvencies and restructurings is still far from breaking or hitting their peak, the Houston Chronicle reported. Between Jan. 1 and May 5, more than 545 Texas companies have filed for protection from creditors under chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code — up from 234 such filings during the same period in 2019, or a 133 percent jump, according to new data provided exclusively to The Texas Lawbook by Androvett Legal Media research. And bankruptcy courts in the Southern District of Texas — specifically Houston — are the epicenter for the historic number of corporate restructurings expected to be filed this year. So far in 2020, five times more business bankruptcies have been filed in Houston than in any of the other three federal district courts in the state. “There is a tsunami coming,” said Foley bankruptcy partner Holly O’Neil. “For tens of thousands of retailers and restaurants and other businesses, their incoming revenue completely stopped, but their expenses kept coming. The options for many of these businesses are running out.”
