This is a multi-part issue.
Your Confidences
We keep the information you tell us in confidence. Unless you tell us otherwise, we will advise creditors who call that we represent you. Computers are kept in locked buildings and documents are shredded before being thrown away.
PACER
Pacer stands for Public Access to Court Electronic Records. Federal Court Records, including bankruptcy court records, are available to the public on PACER. Your bankruptcy papers are available on the bankruptcy court website. The information is available to registered users, although not the general public.
Will my bankruptcy be in the newspaper?
In Kern County, the only newspaper that regularly prints notice of who files for bankruptcy is the Daily Report. This newspaper is mainly read in the construction and credit industries. It consists entirely of notices of sales, foreclosures, etc.
Does the Bakersfield Californian ever report on bankruptcies?
The Bakersfield Californian for a while carried notices of everyone who filed bankruptcy, but they stopped several years ago. Generally the Californian only covers bankruptcies when there is a matter of substantial local interest. Some examples include when a business called the Supreme Bean, that had multiple coffee shops around town, went bankrupt, it made the Californian.
When Desert Community Counseling went bankrupt, and later its principal Terence Cumberworth went bankrupt, it achieved a fair amount of coverage in the Californian. (By way of disclosure, I represented Rossana Zubryzycki Blanco, the Chapter 7 Trustee, of Desert Community Counseling.) This case was covered extensively by the newspapers prior to the actual filing of bankruptcy.
