Glossary

When terms are used on this website, they have these meanings:

Assets (see "total assets," below).

Cause is the type of claim that was the principal cause of the debtor's filing. The categories are as follows:

products: bankruptcies caused principally by products liability claims against the debtor

fraud: bankruptcies caused principally by fraud claims (include securities fraud claims) against the company. These cases often began with financial difficulties from other causes, which were concealed from the investors until they were severe enough to cause the bankruptcy.

pension: bankruptcies caused principally by pension claims against the debtor, including underfunding claims by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

environmental: bankruptcies caused principally by environmental claims (other than products liability claims) against the debtor

patent: bankruptcies caused principally by patent infringement claims against the debtor

other tort: bankruptcies caused principally by tort claims against the debtor that do not fall into any of the categories above

not tort: bankruptcies not caused principally by claims in any of the categories above

Company name is the name of the 10-K filing entity. If more than one such entity was debtor in the same case, the entities' names are separated by " / ". A year of filing in parentheses after the company name indicates that the company filed bankruptcy more than once.

Company emerged means that a stand-alone company continued to operate after confirmation of the plan of reorganization. If the debtor was liquidated or merged into a company that was near the size of the debtor or larger, either during bankruptcy or under the plan of reorganization, no company emerged.

Disposition is the outcome of the bankruptcy case. "Confirmed" means that the court confirmed a plan of reorganization. "Converted" means that the case was converted to a case under Chapter 7 of the bankruptcy code. "Dismissed" means that the case was dismissed. "§ 363 sale" means that the debtor sold all or substantially all of its assets during the Chapter 11 case. Thereafter, the court may have confirmed a plan distributing the proceeds of sale ("§ 363 sale confirmed") or converted the case to Chapter 7 ("§ 363 sale converted"). In some cases, we were unable to discover what happened to the case after the 363 sale, so the entry is simply "363 sale."   "Pending" means that the case remains pending in the bankruptcy court. "Data not available" means that we do not know the disposition of the case.

Duration in days is the number of days from petition filing to confirmation or other disposition of the case.

Emerge means that the plan of reorganization contemplated a surviving firm and the plan was confirmed and consummated.  Any size emerging firm is sufficient, but the plan must contemplate that the firm will remain in business indefinitely.  A firm that plans to liquidate pursuant to the plan does not emerge, even if the firm continues to operate after confirmation and consummation.

Employees means the number of persons employed by the debtor as of the last Form 10-K before filing. Part time employees are counted the same as full time employees.

Filing city is the city in which the case was filed. That city will usually, but not always, be the city where the bankruptcy clerk's office is located.

Filing district is the Federal judicial district in which the case was filed. The first two letters of the district are the postal abbreviation of the name of the state and the second two letters indicate the district, if any, within the state.

Filing party is the party (debtors or creditors) who filed the bankruptcy case. A case filed by the debtor or debtors is generally referred to as a "voluntary" case. A case filed by creditors is generally referred to as an "involuntary" case. If some debtors in the group file voluntarily and creditors file against others involuntarily, the case is classified by the first of the two filings. If creditors file an involuntary case and the debtor "converts" it to a voluntary case, the case is classified as involuntary. If creditors file an involuntary case, the debtor files a voluntary case, and the two cases are consolidated or the involuntary case abandoned, the case is classified as filed by both creditors and debtors.

Filing year is the year during which the bankruptcy case was filed. If a consolidated case involved filings in more than one year, the filing year is the year of the first filing.

Forum shopping is filing the bankruptcy case in a filing city other than the filing city for the court district or division that includes the debtor's headquarters. The debtor's "headquarters" are the "principal offices" of the debtor shown on the debtor's Form 8-K disclosing the bankruptcy filing.  If no 8-K  was filed, we investigated to discover the actual location of the debtor's headquarters on the date of filing.

Headquarters City is the court city serving the location of the debtor's headquarters (see "Forum Shopping") at the time the case was filed.  The court city is the city in which the bankruptcy court is located.

Incorporation state is the state in which the 10-K filing entity was incorporated as of the filing of the bankruptcy case. If the debtor included more than one 10-K filing entity, all incorporation states are listed.

Industry is the debtor's two-digit Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Code based on its primary SIC Code during the year prior to bankruptcy. Even though insurance companies cannot file bankruptcy, some debtors are coded as insurance companies either because the group listed 6311 as their primary SIC code or because the debtor was a 6719 holding company whose primary business was insurance.

Prepackaged means that the debtor drafted the plan and successfully solicited votes on it before filing the case. Prepackaged cases nearly always are filed solely to modify the company's liability on an issue of junk bonds. Once filed, these cases move very quickly. "Prenegotiated" means that the debtor negotiated the terms of the plan with some, but not all creditor groups before filing—even if no prefiling vote was taken on the plan. An example would be a plan to sell the debtor's business, which has been drafted and negotiated with a large secured creditor before filing, but not with trade creditors.

Refiling means the filing of a second bankruptcy case by the company that emerged from the original case. If more than one company emerged from the same case, only refiling by the largest of them is a refiling for this purpose. Refilings count only if they occur while the emerging company remains a stand-alone company. A bankruptcy filing that occurs after the emerging company is acquired or merged is not a "refiling."  The data are, of course, incomplete with respect to cases in which the plan in plan was confirmed less thatn five years ago.

Sales means the sales or revenues reported by the debtor on its Form 10-K for its last fiscal year ending prior to filing, expressed in current dollars.

Total assets means the total assets reported by the debtor on its Form 10-K for its last fiscal year ending prior to filing, expressed in current dollars.