So YOU Think Bankruptcy Stinks?

Despite a profound need for bankruptcy protection, you might still be thinking. . . Bankruptcy Stinks!

Clint Jolly’s food store in Sparks, Nev., has proved the point in explicitly odorous terms.  Clint Jolly sought Chapter 11 bankrupty protection in 2008.  Eventually, they were forced to turn everything over to the bankruptcy trustee and the bank who we can thank for proving the smelly point exempli gratia.

Butcher Boy was a grocery, deli, and catering service founded in 1974.   It was part of a local community and known for providing fine foods to local families  Jolly of course told the bank and bankruptcy trustee about the freezer which was used to store game meats for processing for hunters.   The bank and bankruptcy trustee nonetheless allowed power to be shut off and the meats stored to spoil.  It wasn’t long until the whole place began wafting a terrible smell over the same local community it used to serve.  Due to continued inaction, there’s even talk about the Environmental Health Services Department having to use a HazMat team to clean up all the spoiled meat.

Jolly, as a responsible member of his community, felt the need to apologize on his blog and on the following YouTube video:

Take a look at the proof that bankruptcy stinks for yourself in this local news piece:

Don’t misunderstand the lesson here.  It’s a testament to the failure of banks to act with reasonable prudence in the interest of a local community and people in it rather than an overly broad condemnation of the bankruptcy process.  Communities, individuals, and business need protection from this kind of institutional insanity.

So YOU may still think bankruptcy stinks.  We have a case in point, but if Butcher Boy had been able to successfully reorganize under a Chapter 11 it’s not hard to argue that an entire community would be better off.  The latter is what gets this bankruptcy attorney energized everyday to continue my work on behalf of debtors.

[Via WSJ]