I hate roller coasters
Sometimes I wonder if I am crazy and just haven’t realized it yet. Maybe crazy isn’t the right word, but at the moment the right word escapes me. Take movies for example, or books. I get so taken in by the emotions that they evoke, that I wind up having to leave the room, or put the book down. I was reading the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe this weekend, to get ready for the movie. I kept tearing up at the end. I am a 40 year old man, and I have to walk out of the room at the end of When Harry met Sally. The end of Willy Wonka (the real one with Gene Wilder) gets me going, for heavens sake. I honestly wonder if something is wrong with me. And this is all the time. I don’t have good days and bad days with this stuff. I guess if you lived on the emotional roller coaster that I live on, this should be expected.
For example, yesterday we got an official letter from a bankruptcy court. RFM, it seems has filed bankruptcy and has been granted immunity from his creditors. “Who is RFM?” you ask. RFM was a glazing contractor that we hired as a subcontractor to do a large project for us in 2001. His portion of the overall contract was nearly $200,000.00 RFM came to us early on, and asked for an advance on his contract, so that he could purchase materials. This is not out of the ordinary, as most companies don’t keep that kind of working capital. So we gave it to him. Next, he came to us, and asked if his checks could be made out as multi party checks. In hindsight, this should have set off alarm bells, but being the trusting people that we were, we did as he asked. Now- this is very important- When making out a multi party check, make sure that you write “Pay to the Order of: RFM AND Joe’s Glass Supply AND Bill’s Metal Fabrications. Our secretary did not know this little bit of banking law. She filled out the checks “Pay to the order of: RFM/Joe’s Glass Supply/Bill’s Metal Fabrications”. RFM took the three party check to the bank and cashed it, and pocketed the money. We went to the bank, that we had done business with for 40 years and said, that it was their responsibility to see that the checks had the proper endorsements. They said that since the checks were ambiguous they could pay the money to anyone listed. The said that the checks should have said AND. We said that they sure as hell did not say OR. We asked why they couldn’t make a 30 second phone call to clarify the situation. They said it’s not their job. We told them that they were responsible to protect us. They said that we would just have to sue them.
We are talking about $130,000.00. The lawyers in town are all afraid of the bank and would not take the case to court. So we could not sue the bank to recover the money that they improperly distributed.
We sued RFM instead. Have you ever been to court, or tried to take a lawsuit to court? It takes years. In the mean time, the suppliers that RFM had received materials from, and not paid, had filed liens against the project that we were the General Contractor for. According to Ohio State Law, moneys equal to the amount of the liens must be held back from the General Contractor, until the liens were paid. We were faced with two choices, pay the suppliers to get the liens removed, or try to operate without this money. We could not wait until the court case was settled, because this project had a finish date on it, that we were compelled to meet. If the project was late, we faced fines of $1000 per day until the project was completed. We had no choice but to pay for the materials.
We finally got our day in court, and for once, got a favorable judgment. The judge found that RFM had acted in such a way that allowed the judge to pierce the corporate veil, meaning that we could sue RFM personally as well as his corporation. The judge found in our favor for the $130,000, and ordered RFM to pay it. That is where the court system politely bows out and leaves the collection to you.
RFM offered a $5000 settlement. We turned him over to a collector. We were going to foreclose on his property, and force it to sale. Except, that most of what he owned was in his wife’s name. Except for his house. He had mortgaged for 95% of its value, then defaulted on the mortgage, and let the bank seize it. Since then, the bank got the judge to set aside our lien against the house, and sold the house at auction, since the house was mortgaged before we got the judgment.
Now we got a letter saying that he was given a favorable judgment in bankruptcy court, and we are not allowed to contact him in any way.
I really hate judges, lawyers, and bankers.
On the other hand, the chorus sang at a retirement community tonight. Seeing the looks on the faces of some of those lonely old people and the joy that we brought them, at least for an hour, was priceless.
I need to get a Kleenex to wipe my eyes now….
I told you I am crazy
For example, yesterday we got an official letter from a bankruptcy court. RFM, it seems has filed bankruptcy and has been granted immunity from his creditors. “Who is RFM?” you ask. RFM was a glazing contractor that we hired as a subcontractor to do a large project for us in 2001. His portion of the overall contract was nearly $200,000.00 RFM came to us early on, and asked for an advance on his contract, so that he could purchase materials. This is not out of the ordinary, as most companies don’t keep that kind of working capital. So we gave it to him. Next, he came to us, and asked if his checks could be made out as multi party checks. In hindsight, this should have set off alarm bells, but being the trusting people that we were, we did as he asked. Now- this is very important- When making out a multi party check, make sure that you write “Pay to the Order of: RFM AND Joe’s Glass Supply AND Bill’s Metal Fabrications. Our secretary did not know this little bit of banking law. She filled out the checks “Pay to the order of: RFM/Joe’s Glass Supply/Bill’s Metal Fabrications”. RFM took the three party check to the bank and cashed it, and pocketed the money. We went to the bank, that we had done business with for 40 years and said, that it was their responsibility to see that the checks had the proper endorsements. They said that since the checks were ambiguous they could pay the money to anyone listed. The said that the checks should have said AND. We said that they sure as hell did not say OR. We asked why they couldn’t make a 30 second phone call to clarify the situation. They said it’s not their job. We told them that they were responsible to protect us. They said that we would just have to sue them.
We are talking about $130,000.00. The lawyers in town are all afraid of the bank and would not take the case to court. So we could not sue the bank to recover the money that they improperly distributed.
We sued RFM instead. Have you ever been to court, or tried to take a lawsuit to court? It takes years. In the mean time, the suppliers that RFM had received materials from, and not paid, had filed liens against the project that we were the General Contractor for. According to Ohio State Law, moneys equal to the amount of the liens must be held back from the General Contractor, until the liens were paid. We were faced with two choices, pay the suppliers to get the liens removed, or try to operate without this money. We could not wait until the court case was settled, because this project had a finish date on it, that we were compelled to meet. If the project was late, we faced fines of $1000 per day until the project was completed. We had no choice but to pay for the materials.
We finally got our day in court, and for once, got a favorable judgment. The judge found that RFM had acted in such a way that allowed the judge to pierce the corporate veil, meaning that we could sue RFM personally as well as his corporation. The judge found in our favor for the $130,000, and ordered RFM to pay it. That is where the court system politely bows out and leaves the collection to you.
RFM offered a $5000 settlement. We turned him over to a collector. We were going to foreclose on his property, and force it to sale. Except, that most of what he owned was in his wife’s name. Except for his house. He had mortgaged for 95% of its value, then defaulted on the mortgage, and let the bank seize it. Since then, the bank got the judge to set aside our lien against the house, and sold the house at auction, since the house was mortgaged before we got the judgment.
Now we got a letter saying that he was given a favorable judgment in bankruptcy court, and we are not allowed to contact him in any way.
I really hate judges, lawyers, and bankers.
On the other hand, the chorus sang at a retirement community tonight. Seeing the looks on the faces of some of those lonely old people and the joy that we brought them, at least for an hour, was priceless.
I need to get a Kleenex to wipe my eyes now….
I told you I am crazy
posted by Troubador @ 10:36 PM
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