Monthly Archives: May 2010

Bankruptcies in the Orlando-area have soared to record levels, powered by the worst recession and highest unemployment seen in this country in a generation. Central Florida is experiencing one of the longest and steepest housing slumps anywhere in the nation and is currently on pace to set a record for bankruptcies in 2010; a full 97% of these bankruptcies are being filed by individuals (as opposed to businesses), a testament to the toll this economic downturn is having on households. As of April 30, 2010, that is a shocking 26% increase over numbers from 2009! According to data compiled by U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Orlando, bankruptcies in the region bounded to 20,305 in 2009, an increase of nearly 60% compared with 2008. That total also broke the previous record of 17,770 filings set in 2005, when insolvent consumers across the U.S. rushed to seek bankruptcy protection before the new, tougher bankruptcy laws were passed. In an article in the Orlando Sentinel by Richard Burnett, "�

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A Westmont-based homebuilder called Brittwood Creek LLC, backed by Daniel Callaghan, president of Callaghan Associates, Inc., has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, six months after Brittwood Creek LLC was hit with a $23 million foreclosure suit. Bridgeview Bank Group filed to foreclose on the exclusive 56-acre development, another remnant of the moribund housing market. Brittwood, which is backed by Mr. Callaghan has, as its largest creditor, the Oak Brook-based non-profit Institute for Basic Life Principles, which is owed, according to the bankruptcy petition, $13.1 million. The NPO operates bible-training centers in the U.S., Russia, Australia and New Zealand. The Callaghan venture began missing loan payments last September, prompting the legal action in the DuPage County Circuit Court. The institute still holds a second mortgage on the site, but its loan could be wiped out by the foreclosure case. The article quotes a lawyer for the bank, John J. Pcolinski Jr. of Wheaton

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