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It seems as if one retailer a week is filing for bankruptcy, meaning a company such as Bellach's Leather Furniture for Living Inc. would easily get lost in the Chapter 11 parade. But Bellach's owner, and his opinion of the federal bankruptcy system, is hardly commonplace.
Jerome Bellach's 40-year-old business is being liquidated under bankruptcy court supervision, and so you can understand his frustration. Last week The Deal reported that a California judge converted the furniture retailer's filing into a Chapter 7 liquidation. The reasons for the judge's move are many -- among them, obviously, allegations of malfeasance by the U.S. trustee. But Jerome Bellach isn't standing pat and is telling his side of the story on his Web site. This isn't your ordinary Last Angry Man rant. Bellach blames a seemingly uncaring attorney and a "good 'ol [sic] boys club" in the bankruptcy system for the demise of his business. (The attorney, David N. Chandler from the Law Offices of David N. Chandler, did not return calls for comment.) Upset with my June 27 report of the case being converted to Chapter 7, Bellach called me about the story, which he called inaccurate, despite the fact that practically all of it was lifted from court papers. He portrayed himself to me as an honest businessman victimized by a tight-knit bankruptcy system whose practitioners are disinterested in the reorganization of his company and concerned only with collecting fees. Where does the truth lie? The U.S. Trustee's Office is accusing Bellach and his wife of refusing to cooperate with the Chapter 11 trustee's administration of the estate (in addition to allegations of fraudulent insider transactions and mishandling of at least $1 million in customer deposits). It remains to be seen if those accusations stick. But you have to appreciate Bellach's passion and his argument that "from attorneys to trustees ... the motivation is GREED." He's not the first person to characterize the federal bankruptcy system as a rigged game. And he won't be the last. But at least he's making the story of his company, and its case, much more interesting. - John Blakeley CategoriesComments
From: a/c holdings investments ,
wants to do a deal with frontier airline
Posted on:
July 2, 2008 5:51 PM
From: Patricia,
We,the people, who thought we could trust such an old, reliable furniture store to use our deposits to actually order our furniture are not particularly sympathetic. About 1M in deposits are alleged to have been used for "other things" including s monthly salary of 37K and 116K for monthly rent - mostly to themselves since they own three of the entities that lease/sublease to Bellach's. Last week, the factory rep confirmed my order, placed in 10/07, was never put into production. Not surprising since my initial order, placed in 1/07, took six months to deliver from the same manufacturer - well known for both high quality and timely delivery. Judging from my personal experience, it appears the Bellachs' had been "robbing Peter to pay Paul" for quite some time. It's a real stretch to believe the employees were totally unaware of the situation when they took our deposits and made up excuses for delivery delays. Greed and mismanagement are the resons the Bellachs' are at the mercy of the court now.
Posted on:
July 4, 2008 8:45 PM
From: Lori Brown,
The worst day of the Bellachs' lives was the day they were forced to declare Chapter 11. They thought they could reorganize the business and fill every order and pay every creditor dollar for dollar. However, the trustee assigned to the case was not interested in dealing with a long-term plan so the company was flipped into Chapter 7. She wanted to spend as little time as possible generating revenue as her services needed to be paid for. She wanted an in and out scenario. In fact, whenshe took over, she ordered the office staff to cancel every special order that had been placed (they were all placed with the factories). The Bellachs are not sitting back twidling their thumbs...they have been very badly affected and are extremely distressed they had the reins taken away and had to let down so many people. They are very kind people and would never have declared Chapter 11 Reorganization unless their advisors told them it was absolutely necessary. Thank you!
Posted on:
January 30, 2009 3:23 PM
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wants to do a deal with frontier airline
and the union pension fund on a exit of chapter 11 but frontier wants to stay in what kind of a business deal is that when someone wants to deal well the question lies on the table as a weel comdien canadain would say deal or no deal lets have it frontier here is your white knight are you ready from canada eheheheheheheheheeheh the great white north