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From: wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin )
Newsgroups: net.legal
Subject: Bankruptcy -- creditor position
Message-ID: <3442@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 20-Nov-85 12:14:10 EST
Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.3442
Posted: Wed Nov 20 12:14:10 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 23-Nov-85 01:47:41 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: USAMC ALMSA, St. Louis, MO
Lines: 42

In the light of recent postings about what an employee should do when a
company decalres bankruptcy, I have a couple questions about the
opposite condition -- what do do when you are a creditor (of sorts):

The situation -- I ordered some items from a California company by
mailorder. I am a Missouri resident. The order was prepaid, by money
order, as the company required this. I received half of what I ordered;
the rest was put on backorder.

Some time later, I received a notice from a lawyer about the company
going bankrupt. I wrote back to him, enclosing copies of my documents
and showing the amount the company owed me from my prepayment (about
$90). I also sent letters to the postal inspection service, the company
itself, and, I believe, the FTC and the California State Attorney
General's Consumer Protection department. I never received any refund,
and never got any legal notice from a court or other formal information
about this bankruptcy. This all happened several years ago.

The small amount involved made hiring a lawyer uneconomic. The distance
made personal investigation impossible. What should a person do in such
circumstances? Is there anything that can be done at this late date to
locate proof that the firm ever really decalred bankruptcy? I thought
that, if they did so, I would receive formal notice as a creditor. Since
I never did, I suspect they just disappeared and fled their debts.

Over ten years ago or so, when something similar happened to me
involving a mailorder from a New York firm for hifi equipment, a very
nice lady from the Federal Trade Commission helped me get a full refund
(for about $400). Now, though, there isn't much left of the FTC to help
consumers, I believe. (That is sad -- I always felt the FTC would be
much more useful as a mail-order-sales policeman than to spend its
resources doing big general-purpose things like investigating the
used-car and funeral industry, and then never really doing anything as a
result!)

Comments and advice and recommendations to help others who encounter
such situations would be welcomed -- please post!

Regards,
Will Martin

UUCP/USENET: seismo!brl-bmd!wmartin   or   ARPA/MILNET: wmartin@almsa-1.ARPA