Quote:
Originally Posted by Exhibitman
The way BK can be manipulated is ugly AF. For example, one of my landlord clients had a deadbeat tenant that kept filing BK without doing the supporting schedules. The court would toss it out after 60 days but it would derail the eviction case each time. My client finally had to get a court order prohibiting it, which took months and cost $10K. The tenant ultimately skated on a year of rent before filing BK for real. My client got $0 as an unsecured creditor.
|
Adam,
So true. I have run into people with multiple bankruptcies that keep getting dismissed. How I dread running PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records for those who do not know) for one of those people. They have learned to play the game using legal stall tactics. It takes a judge to say no and threaten criminal prosecution to stop it in some cases.
As to this Marx case, I suspect a smart DA could argue criminal charges under RICO. Interstate business activity to defraud investors. It does not matter what they intended to do it is what they did do. Additionally, if they used the USPS to send the items to PSA there could be possible mail fraud.
If PSA first came out and said that they would return the items to the individual owners at no charge and then issued a statement saying that they would return at no charge except for shipping they may run into problems. I suspect that the first statement would hold, especially if it was in writing (implied contract?), as an offer that each owner could accept. I would defer to you on contract law.