By Dietrich Knauth
NEW YORK, Sept 24 (Reuters) - A greater share of large U.S. bankruptcy cases are being filed in Dallas and Fort Worth courthouses, with the Northern District of Texas surpassing busy courts in New York and New Jersey over the past twelve months.
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas was the third-most active court for large business bankruptcies over 12 months from July 2024 to June 2025, accounting for 7% of cases involving more than $100 million in assets, according to statistics in an annual report by consulting firm Cornerstone Research released Wednesday.
The Northern District of Texas, which assigns large bankruptcy cases to judges in Dallas and Fort Worth, has been the court of choice for large debtors like restaurant chain Hooters of America and nursing home operator Genesis Healthcare. The court has remained popular even after the period covered by Cornerstone's latest report, with subprime auto lender Tricolor and CVS-owned pharmacy services provider Omnicare filing for bankruptcies in that court in September 2025.
The Southern District of New York and the District of New Jersey each accounted for 4% of cases involving more than $100 million in assets in the same time period. It is the first time since 2012 that the Northern District of Texas has ranked in the top three busiest bankruptcy courts, according to Cornerstone.
The two busiest bankruptcy courts remain the District of Delaware, which accounted for 40% of large business bankruptcies over the same period, and the Southern District of Texas, which accounted for 24% of cases, according to Cornerstone.
The past year saw a spike in very large bankruptcy cases involving more than $1 billion in assets, with 32 such cases filed over the same period. The year before that saw 24 billion-dollar bankruptcies. Overall, the number of cases involving $100 million in assets remained relatively steady, with 117 such cases in July 2024 to June 2025, compared to 113 in the 12 months studied before that by Cornerstone.
The largest recent bankruptcies over the July 2024-June 2025 period include solar power company Sunnova Energy, which filed for bankruptcy with $13.4 billion in assets; budget airline Spirit Airlines, with $9.5 billion in assets; semiconductor manufacturer Wolfspeed, with $7.6 billion in assets; Brazilian airline Azul S.A., with $4.5 billion in assets; and furniture retailer Big Lots, with $3.2 billion in assets, according to Cornerstone Research.
Bankrupt companies commonly cited inflation, government policy changes such as new tariffs, and cuts to green energy spending, as well as industry-specific factors such as increased competition, as reasons for filing bankruptcy in the 12 months studied.
Besides Sunnova, green energy companies such as Global Clean Energy, SunPower Corp, and Mosaic Sustainable Finance Corp have also gone bankrupt in the past year.
Companies that cited tariffs as a factor in their bankruptcy include clothing retail Forever21, automotive parts supplier Marelli, and home furnishing retailer At Home.
Read more:
Bankruptcy trends to watch in 2025
(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth)
((Dietrich.Knauth@thomsonreuters.com;))