As I am clearly reporting about Maclaren USA's business restructuring and stealth bankruptcy liquidation solely for my own amusement/outrage, I will point out to myself that the bankruptcy court in Connecticut has set a creditor's meeting for today, at noon.
Which might be interesting. I've never been to one, but according to the US Courts' explanation of Chapter 7 bankruptcy, it's an important open-form meeting overseen by a court-appointed Trustee, whose job is to determine whether the bankruptcy claim is legitimate:
During this meeting, the trustee puts the debtor under oath, and both the trustee and creditors may ask questions. The debtor must attend the meeting and answer questions regarding the debtor's financial affairs and property. 11 U.S.C. § 343. If a husband and wife have filed a joint petition, they both must attend the creditors' meeting and answer questions. Within 10 days of the creditors' meeting, the U.S. trustee will report to the court whether the case should be presumed to be an abuse under the means test described in 11 U.S.C. § 704(b).So I guess this is interesting because almost all the specific creditor claims, which account for 90%-plus of the more than $15 million Maclaren USA owes, are from companies owned by Maclaren, or by Maclaren's owner/CEO, Farzad Rastegar. So is this creditor meeting going to be Rastegar raking himself over the coals, or does he have his employees do that? Will all the Maclaren/Rastegar-related parties get a turn, or do they get lumped together? Does David Netto get lumped in with the insiders, too? Do the seven amputee children suing Maclaren get rolled up as one creditor class, or do they each get to wave their little fingers individually? And what if some plaintiffs can't make the trip from California or Georgia or the Bronx? Do they end up treated differently?It is important for the debtor to cooperate with the trustee and to provide any financial records or documents that the trustee requests. The Bankruptcy Code requires the trustee to ask the debtor questions at the meeting of creditors to ensure that the debtor is aware of the potential consequences of seeking a discharge in bankruptcy such as the effect on credit history, the ability to file a petition under a different chapter, the effect of receiving a discharge, and the effect of reaffirming a debt.
I'd say inquiring minds want to know, but at this point, I guess it really is just me.
I'm envisioning Rastegar going at it with a ventriloquist dummy on his lap. He's there doing his best Billy Flynn routine trying to make it look like there is legitimate tension between the debtor and creditors all the while hoping that nobody with 9 fingers makes it to the meeting.
It's crazy to me that nobody else has picked up on this. Or at least email consumerist...
I want to know!
Oh, and if it's comments that you're after, maybe you should post something like: I'm thinking of going to the MacLaren bankruptcy hearing today. What car should I drive?
I want to know, too. Sad that it seems like another company I'll have to boycott--we love our volo.
Hop in the Scion and go to the hearing!