Abstract
This paper describes certain central aspects of the operation of the consumer bankruptcy system in the United States. It combines government data with the investigators' empirical data from two large studies done over a decade to explore two types of questions. The first area of investigation relates specifically to bankruptcy policy. The object is to identify the categories of persons principally served by the consumer bankruptcy system and to determine if suggestions of widespread abuse of that system by debtors are well-founded. The paper reports that the system is used primarily by the middle-class. It also reports that there is no evidence of widespread abuse. The second area of investigation is explanation of differences in the operation of the system in different regions of the country, differences that have persisted over twenty years despite major changes in legal rules and economic conditions. The paper argues that these differences are not explicable in terms of formal legal rules or a simple economic model and that a better explanation of the data is that the differences are the product of a "local legal culture" in each region.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Church, T. (1978). Justice delayed: The pace of litigation in urban trial courts. Williamsburg, VA: National Center for State Courts.
Church, T. (1981). Who sets the pace of litigation in urban trial courts? Judicature, 65, 76-85.
Church, T. (1985). Examining local legal culture-Practitioner attitudes in four criminal courts. American Bar Foundation Research Journal, 1985, 449-518.
Collier on Bankruptcy (1992). 7 Vols. 15th ed. New York: Mathew Bender.
Creditors Bankruptcy Service (1996). Consumer bankruptcy filings: Up, up, and away. CBS Advantage: Bankruptcy Recovery News, Second quarter.
Kritzer, H., Zemans, F., & Marshall, L. (1992). Controlling litigation and local legal culture, disputes processing research program. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin. Working Paper 11-1.
Lopucki, L. M. (1989). The demographics of bankruptcy practice. American Bankruptcy Law Journal, 63, 289-319.
Neustadter, G. (1986). When lawyer and client meet: Observations of interviewing and counseling behavior in the consumer bankruptcy law office. Buffalo Law Review, 35, 177-284.
Purdue University Credit Research Center (1982). Consumer bankruptcy study, 2 vols. Lafayette, IN: Purdue University, Krannert Graduate School of Management.
Study of data reveals change (1996). The Thirteen Connection, Spring, p. 1.
Sullivan, T. A., Warren, E., & Westbrook, J. L. (1986). Folklore and facts: A preliminary report from the Consumer Bankruptcy Project. American Bankruptcy Law Journal, 60, 293-338.
Sullivan, T. A., Warren, E., & Westbrook, J. L. (1988). Laws, models, and real people: Choice of chapter in personal bankruptcy. Law and Social Inquiry, 13, 661-680.
Sullivan, T. A., Warren, E., & Westbrook, J. L. (1989). As we forgive our debtors: Bankruptcy and consumer credit in America. New York: Oxford University Press.
Sullivan, T. A., Warren, E., & Westbrook, J. L. (1994a). Consumer debtors ten years later: A financial comparison of consumer bankrupts 1981-1991. American Bankruptcy Law Journal, 68, 121-154.
Sullivan, T. A., Warren, E., & Westbrook, J. L. (1994b). The persistence of local legal culture: Twenty years of evidence from the Federal Bankruptcy Courts. Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, 17, 801-865.
Sullivan, T. A., Warren, E., & Westbrook, J. L. (1995). Bankruptcy and the family. Marriage and Family Review, 21, 193-215.
United States Bureau of the Census (1992). Statistical abstract of the United States, 112th ed. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
United States Bureau of the Census (1993). Statistical abstract of the United States, 113th ed. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
United States Congress General Accounting Office (1992). Bankruptcy administration: Justification lacking for continuing two parallel programs. GAO/GGD-92-133. Washington, DC: General Accounting Office.
United States Courts Administrative Office (1996). Press release, May 18.
Vernon (1993). Texas Property Code Annotated. Kansas City, MO: Vernon Law Book Co.
Warren, E., & Westbrook, J. L. (1996). The law of debtors and creditors: Text, cases and problems, 3rd ed. Boston: Little & Brown.
Whitford, W. C. (1994). The ideal of individualized justice: Consumer bankruptcy as consumer protection, and consumer protection in consumer bankruptcy. American Bankruptcy Law Journal, 68, 397-417.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sullivan, T.A., Warren, E. & Westbrook, J.L. Consumer Bankruptcy in the United States: A Study of Alleged Abuse and of Local Legal Culture. Journal of Consumer Policy 20, 223–268 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006826006249
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006826006249