News

McAfee & Taft shareholder Chuck Greenough was interviewed for a front page story in The Journal Record concerning the increase in the number of bankruptcy filings in Oklahoma.

The story reports that filings in the western bankruptcy district of Oklahoma were up 38.5 percent in September compared to the same month a year ago and up 22.5 percent since the beginning of the year. In the northern bankruptcy district, filings were up 30.4 percent for the month and up 20.8 percent for the first nine months of the year compared to 2007.

“My own perception would be that, here at least in Oklahoma, the increase in filings is not attributable to the national shakeout,” Greenough told The Journal Record. He said it may be largely attributable to the lingering upward trend after the record filings in 2005, the year stricter new bankruptcy regulations took effect, the article stated.

However, the more dramatic increase in filings in August and September may be “an uptick to an uptick.”

“Those numbers are certainly a much higher rate of increase than we’ve seen over the last year,” he said. “I wouldn’t say it surprises me, but it is more increase that we’ve been experiencing.”

Bankruptcy filings for October and the remainder of the year may be better indicators of the national financial meltdown’s effect on the lives of Oklahomans, the article stated.

“I can’t imagine it’s not going to keep going up,” Greenough said. “I don’t think we’re seeing people who are being impacted by the national news, so we’re going to see more of those people.”