Erie lawyer appointed bankruptcy judge

ERIE, Pa. (AP) -- Thomas Agresti, an Erie attorney who has counseled bankruptcy clients for more than 20 years, will now preside over those cases as a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge.
Agresti's appointment gives the Western District of Pennsylvania six bankruptcy judges. He'll hear cases in both Erie and Pittsburgh, where the district's main bankruptcy court is based.
Bankruptcy judges serve 14-year renewable terms and are paid $142,324 a year.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals selected Agresti for the post. He'll begin work once the FBI completes a background check on him.
The appeals court wanted a sixth judge because of the steadily increasing number of bankruptcies in the judicial district, which covers 25 western Pennsylvania counties. The district had 16,924 bankruptcies last year, up from 6,316 in 1995.