In a review of last year entitled The Year In Bankruptcy 2009 JD has pulled together the key events of the world’s largest economy (there’s plenty of them) into a rollercoaster summary (well worth a read if you have the time). Americans always love “the biggest of…” comparisons but this one’s no hot-dog eating contest…

Jones Day: The penultimate year in the first decade of the second millennium was one for the ages, or at least most people hope so. Almost nobody would choose to relive the tumultuous, teeth-grinding events of 2009 any time soon. 2009 saw what was (hopefully) the worst of the “Great Recession” that gripped most of the world beginning in the fall of 2008.

According to the report, there were 55 names added to the “billion-dollar bankruptcy club” in 2009; the top ten, according to assets at the time of filing were:

1. General Motors, $91 billion

2. CIT Group, $80.4 billion

3. Chrysler, $39.3 billion

4. Thornburg Mortgage, $36.5 billion

5. General Growth Properties, $29.6 billion

6. Lyondell Chemica, $27.4 billion

7. Colonial BancGroup, $25.8 billion

8. Capmark Financial Group, $20.6 billion

9. Guaranty Financial Group, $16.8 billion

10. BankUnited Financial, $15 billion

For comparison, the survey also has the Largest Public-Company Bankruptcy Filings Since 1980. More>