WASHINGTON -- Consumers and businesses amassed so much debt in recent years that record numbers filed for bankruptcy protection for the second year in a row, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts said yesterday.

The 1.5 million new cases filed during the year ending June 30 represented an 8.6 percent increase over the record number of cases filed during the year ending June 30, 2001.

Individual bankruptcies totaled 1.47 million in the year ending June 30, up 8.6 percent from a year earlier. Business bankruptcies rose to 39,201, 5.6 percent more than the year before.

Experts said bankruptcy filings do not reflect the current economy.

"They're telling us what happened last year. It's just the recession," said Michael Evans, a Florida economist formerly with American Economics Group.

Seattle P-I

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