The Southern District of Texas saw a surge in commercial bankruptcy filings during 2020, drawing a caseload second only to Delaware's during the coronavirus pandemic, which attorneys attribute to the accessibility, ingenuity and predictability of a pair of Houston judges who have spent years giving the district a high profile, Law360 reported. Houston's bankruptcy court tallied 1,363 chapter 11 filings in 2020, almost quadrupling the 361 cases filed in the district in 2019, and making it the second-busiest bankruptcy docket behind Delaware, which saw 1,628 filings. Houston far outpaced the third-busiest docket in the country, the Southern District of New York, which reported 692 filings, according to U.S. Courts data. While the pandemic forced more businesses than normal into bankruptcy last year, Lone Star State attorneys told Law360 there's more to Houston's growing chapter 11 docket than COVID-19. A two-judge complex case bench known for its nearly round-the-clock availability, willingness to walk counsel through tough situations, openness to creative reorganization plans and proven track record has helped establish the Southern District as a commercial bankruptcy hotspot in recent years. In 2020, a variety of companies filed for bankruptcy in Houston, which has long had an oil and energy industry-heavy docket. Large restaurant chains based in California, such as California Pizza Kitchen Inc. and Chuck E Cheese's parent company CEC Entertainment Inc., filed for chapter 11 protection in the Southern District of Texas. Massachusetts-based Friendly's Restaurants LLC and Kansas-based NPC International Inc., the largest Pizza Hut and Wendy's franchisee in the country, also chose Houston.
