Bankruptcy filings in Dallas and Fort Worth have climbed more than 80% from last year, and Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganizations are up 158%, 11 months through the year.

Through the end of November, some 16,191 individuals and businesses had filed for bankruptcy in the Dallas and Fort Worth divisions of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s Northern District of Texas. Through the same time frame in 2008, 9,018 people and companies had filed for some form of bankruptcy protection in the region.

Nationwide, business bankruptcies through the end of September had already surpassed the total for all of 2008, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute. The 45,510 business bankruptcies filed in the first nine months of the year is the highest total since 1997, when 53,931 businesses filed for bankruptcy protection.

“What we’re seeing is a continuing stream of corporate Chapter 11s, and it’s way beyond what we’ve seen last year,” said Joe Wielebinski, a Dallas bankruptcy attorney with Munsch Hardt Kopf and Harr PC. “It’s all across the board in industries, locations and types of problems.”

In the federal fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, bankruptcy filings nationwide were up 34.5%, according to the Administrative Office of the Courts.

Local figures breaking out business bankruptcies aren’t yet available, but just like the recession, business bankruptcy activity in Texas seems to have been milder than in other regions of the country, said Phil Lamberson, head of the business restructuring and bankruptcy practice at Winstead PC.

The North Texas energy and real estate industries have had significant increases in bankruptcy filings this year, but it could have been much worse.