Bankruptcy Filing

Debt collection law firm Mann Bracken, which threw the courts and collections industry into disarray after abruptly shutting its doors last month, has been placed into receivership by the Montgomery County Circuit Court. The firm's attorney, James M. Hoffman, said a receiver was appointed Thursday at Mann Bracken's request. Receivership is an alternative to filing for bankruptcy protection. Mann Bracken said in January that it could not continue handling the cases it had filed against consumers on behalf of creditors.

Pending the approval of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the publisher of the Baltimore Jewish Times and Style Magazine could be sold at auction next week. Zvi Guttman, the trustee in the case, asked the court Wednesday to approve a sale schedule, which calls for all bids for Alter Communications Inc. to be submitted to him by Tuesday afternoon and for the sale to be conducted on the morning of Wednesday, March 28. Objections to the proposed schedule are to be filed with the court by 10 a.m. Thursday.

The phone call last week came as a shock. One of the last things Melissa and Maurice Dashiell wanted to hear from their homebuilder's salesman was that the company, NVR L.P., had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.But by Sunday, the young couple were feeling confident. They drove to King's Charter, the Bel Air subdivision where the foundation for their four-bedroom colonial had been poured recently. They were pleased to see that the wood for framing the home had been delivered on time.

The parent of K Bank, which became the latest Maryland bank to fail amid the real estate crisis, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The petition by K Capital Corp. was filed Monday in federal bankruptcy court in Baltimore. The bank's board of directors voted to turn over the Owings Mills-based institution to state regulators, after it was unable to turn around its finances or find a buyer. The bank's $500 million in deposits and about $411 million in assets were sold to M&T Bank.

ARLINGTON, Va. - US Airways Group Inc. and its pilots union will begin meeting every weekday starting today to speed talks on $300 million in proposed concessions that would help the carrier avoid a second bankruptcy filing. The meetings at the airline's headquarters follow "irregular" sessions, Air Line Pilots Association spokesman Jack Stephan said yesterday. Company executives, including Chief Executive Officer Bruce Lakefield, made a presentation Wednesday to the union, which represents about 3,000 active pilots and 1,879 who have been laid off. "Both sides realized we need to pick up the pace a little bit," Stephan said.

In Monday's Business section, the incorrect type of bankruptcy filing was listed for Montage D'Elegance Ltd., 708 Reisterstown Road, Pikesville. The women's clothing retailer has filed for protection under Chapter 11.The Sun regrets the error.Pub Date: 3/27/97

In March 24's editions of The Sun, the incorrect type of bankruptcy filing was listed for Montage D'Elegance Ltd., 708 Reisterstown Road, Pikesville. The women's clothing retailer has filed for protection under Chapter 11.The Sun regrets the error.Pub Date: 3/31/97

One of Baltimore's best-known off-site caterers has filed for reorganization in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Baltimore.Charles Levine, owner of Owings Mills-based Charles Levine Ltd., said his catering company filed under Chapter 11 Thursday because it was unable to pay its creditors on loans it took out to start an on-site catering operation in the Scarlett Place condominiums at the Inner Harbor two years ago.Mr. Levine said yesterday that the catering company is still reeling from the expenses related to that venture, despite the fact he closed it down in late December to focus on his flagship off-site catering operation, which he started in 1984.

Developer Mark Vogel's debts on his two Maryland harness racing tracks total about $17 million, according to records from his Thursday bankruptcy filing, and the money owed includes hefty overdue payments to the state, his employee pension fund and two influential law firms.Vogel placed the approximate value of the tracks at $32.5 million -- a figure his attorney, Ira Wolpert, said was optimistic. Since Vogel's Sept. 13 arrest on a cocaine-possession charge, foreclosure actions have been filed against several of his real-estate projects.

General Motors Corp. shares fell as much as 19 percent Monday in the wake of a report that the troubled automaker has been directed by the U.S. Treasury to lay the groundwork for a bankruptcy filing by June 1. GM's stock, a component of the Dow Jones industrial average, ended the session down 16.2 percent at $1.71 and is now down 47 percent since the beginning of the year. Members of President Barack Obama's automotive task force are holding meetings and conference calls with GM officials and their advisers in Detroit and Washington, according to The New York Times, with the goal of preparing for a fast "surgical" bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy filings jumped nearly 36 percent in Maryland in the past year, continuing a recession-era trend of double-digit growth in cases, a federal courts report shows. The increase in Maryland, including business and individual bankruptcy cases, outpaced the 20 percent increase in filings nationally in the year that ended June 30, according to statistics released recently by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. More than 29,000 bankruptcy cases were filed in Maryland in that time, the report shows.

A fter hanging in limbo for four months, former employees of Erickson Retirement Communities heard Wednesday that the company will move to pay $750,000 of the $1.8 million in severance they're owed. Ex-employees owed less than $10,950 in severance would get everything previously pledged by the company, which has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings since October. Those owed more would get only $10,950, several dozen of the former workers were told in a conference call Wednesday afternoon.

A foreclosure sale of the Hollander 95 Business Park in northeast Baltimore was canceled this week, after partners in the venture filed for bankruptcy protection and stopped the proceedings, according to auctioneer Paul Cooper of Alex Cooper Auctioneers. Hollander Rock LLC, which bought the 51-acre site for $4 million several years ago from the city of Baltimore, had planned to build a warehouse, distribution and manufacturing center. Only the 82,000-square-foot warehouse has been completed, and tenants have moved into half of the building.

Debt collection law firm Mann Bracken, which threw the courts and collections industry into disarray after abruptly shutting its doors last month, has been placed into receivership by the Montgomery County Circuit Court. The firm's attorney, James M. Hoffman, said a receiver was appointed Thursday at Mann Bracken's request. Receivership is an alternative to filing for bankruptcy protection. Mann Bracken said in January that it could not continue handling the cases it had filed against consumers on behalf of creditors.

William Brattain, former head of construction for Erickson Retirement, had his Country Coach motor home repossessed on Monday. That was a few days after lawyers from DLA Piper billed Erickson $779,000 for one month's work, including $3,000 in restaurant expenses. Clearly, some folks are doing better as a result of Erickson's bankruptcy filing than others. Brattain and scores of others who got laid off by the company are doubly unlucky. First they lost their jobs. Now Erickson has withheld severance pay that it promised and that they were counting on for rent, health insurance, and mortgage and car payments.

W illiam Brattain, former head of construction for Erickson Retirement, had his Country Coach motor home repossessed on Monday. That was a few days after lawyers from DLA Piper billed Erickson $779,000 for one month's work, including $3,000 in restaurant expenses. Clearly, some folks are doing better as a result of Erickson's bankruptcy filing than others. Brattain and scores of others who got laid off by the company are doubly unlucky. First they lost their jobs.

...TC The owner of Nan Duskin, a three-store chain that specializes in upscale designer clothing, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Philadelphia.The company, ND Acquisition Inc., has a store at the Village of Cross Keys on Falls Road. It will remain open and there will be no layoffs, said Louis N. Marks, chairman and chief executive officer of ND Acquisition Inc.He said the company plans to add three people to the 15-person Baltimore sales force during the next year and to increase its inventory.

Man dies in Abingdon when pickup hits tree 3 A man was killed in Abingdon early Friday when his pickup truck hit a tree, according to state police. The crash was reported at 1:47 a.m. on southbound Emmorton Road just before Porter Drive, according to police. The man was not immediately identified, pending notification of relatives. - Liz F. Kay Bankruptcy filing unlikely to harm communties' ratings 4 Fitch Ratings said this week that Catonsville-based Erickson Retirement Communities' Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing should have "no effect" on the bond ratings of the Baltimore-area communities it developed, Charlestown and Oak Crest.

Legendary automaker General Motors Corp. on Monday became the largest U.S. industrial company ever to file for bankruptcy-law protection, in a restructuring that puts it under unprecedented government ownership and jump-starts a plan that will include plant closings and thousands of job losses, but that the company hopes will return it to profitability. The transmission plant in White Marsh will remain open, but a Wilmington, Del., plant that has many workers who live in the Baltimore area will shut down July 31. The bankruptcy reflects the downfall of what was once an icon in the auto industry whose management problems were exacerbated so badly by the global recession that the Obama administration stepped in to take over.