Premier Cru warning

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Moses Botbol
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Re: Premier Cru warning

Post by Moses Botbol »

Matt K wrote:FYI: I received notice & instructions for the US Bankruptcy court last week.
Are they going to close up shop or doing a re-org?
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Eric Menchen
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Re: Premier Cru warning

Post by Eric Menchen »

Moses Botbol wrote:
Matt K wrote:FYI: I received notice & instructions for the US Bankruptcy court last week.
Are they going to close up shop or doing a re-org?
Chapter 7, so closing up.
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Andy Velebil
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Re: Premier Cru warning

Post by Andy Velebil »

Eric Menchen wrote:
Moses Botbol wrote:
Matt K wrote:FYI: I received notice & instructions for the US Bankruptcy court last week.
Are they going to close up shop or doing a re-org?
Chapter 7, so closing up.
It is already closed. There is some issues being sorted by the court as there are boxes of wine with customers names that were being stored or ready to ship but weren't. So there is a long shot those may end up getting their wine. But that's depends on how the court views ownership of said wines in relation to creditors.


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Glenn E.
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Re: Premier Cru warning

Post by Glenn E. »

Andy Velebil wrote:There is some issues being sorted by the court as there are boxes of wine with customers names that were being stored or ready to ship but weren't. So there is a long shot those may end up getting their wine. But that's depends on how the court views ownership of said wines in relation to creditors.
Interesting. I'll be watching that to see how it turns out, just from a legal point of view.

Seems to me that if I've paid for something and the company has that something on hand and actually labels it with my name, that ownership has changed. Whether or not it has shipped should be irrelevant, at least to me.

In fact many companies actually state that explicitly - ownership transfers in the State of X upon recepit of payment, and the company then serves as your proxy to arrange shipping. I wonder if Premier Cru was one of those companies? I'll have to check their website, assuming it's still up.

Edit: it's not, so no way to check.
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Re: Premier Cru warning

Post by Andy Velebil »

Glenn E. wrote:
Andy Velebil wrote:There is some issues being sorted by the court as there are boxes of wine with customers names that were being stored or ready to ship but weren't. So there is a long shot those may end up getting their wine. But that's depends on how the court views ownership of said wines in relation to creditors.
Interesting. I'll be watching that to see how it turns out, just from a legal point of view.

Seems to me that if I've paid for something and the company has that something on hand and actually labels it with my name, that ownership has changed. Whether or not it has shipped should be irrelevant, at least to me.

In fact many companies actually state that explicitly - ownership transfers in the State of X upon recepit of payment, and the company then serves as your proxy to arrange shipping. I wonder if Premier Cru was one of those companies? I'll have to check their website, assuming it's still up.

Edit: it's not, so no way to check.
I believe that is what is being sorted....the legal aspect of who actually owns what wines that are locked in the store/warehouse. That will probably take some time as they sort out their inventory list versus paid invoices for those wines. But then there is the clawback law that may also apply and who gets first dibs on things. And those who have wine there but disputed their purchase with their credit card company and got a refund. Those obviously no longer own the wine as they got their money back.

In my non-legal opinion, anything bought and paid for should legally belong to the buyer. But this is civil law and far from that simple I'm sure.
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Stewart T.
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Re: Premier Cru warning

Post by Stewart T. »

Revisiting this thread.

I had about modest amount of wine that I paid for but never was shipped. Nothing I will lose sleep over and thankful that I wasn't one of those with over $100,000 in missing wine. Well, my wife would never allow that anyway, but you get the idea...

Curiously, a week before they declared bankruptcy, I also called about some Colheitas that I had ordered to see when they would be shipping.
"Oh, yeah, they are right here. They will be going out tomorrow..." - and a few days later, they actually showed up! Score!!!

I didn't realize how lucky I was until the bankruptcy announcement came out.

After the bankruptcy filing, I officially signed on as a creditor to the lawsuit - more out of curiosity than ever believed I'd get my money - or my wine. I started receiving a LOT of Court notices, most of which were the most banal of topics. "The Court hereby approves that the Bankruptcy Representative can hire IT Consultant John Doe at a rate of $110/hour to investigate the computer systems in an attempt to locate any additional potential creditors..." It was honestly kind of a let down. I was hoping for something more exciting like "The Court has issued a one week recess from proceedings after Mr. Fox curled up in a fetal position on the courtroom floor and balled like a little baby...."

Thankfully, yesterday I received a Court Notice basically saying I would no longer receive Court Notices for stupid stuff unless I opt in to do so. Hmmmm.....

Here is the lastest update from the Contra Costa Times:
http://www.contracostatimes.com/breakin ... s-confront
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Eric Menchen
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Re: Premier Cru warning

Post by Eric Menchen »

Yes, I've been receiving a multitude of mailings. The one you want to pay attention to is the one that mentions how to make claims, and when the deadline is for doing that. I think it is in April.
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Re: Premier Cru warning

Post by Marco D. »

I too have a small amount that was never shipped from Premier Cru. How did you officially sign up as a creditor?
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Stewart T.
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Re: Premier Cru warning

Post by Stewart T. »

Hey Marco - I will look up the info in the paperwork when i get home and post here.
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Stewart T.
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Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Proof of Claim Filing Deadline & Details

Post by Stewart T. »

Filing Deadline is 5/24/2016
A proof of claim form can be obtained from http://www.uscourts.gov.
I believe that you can also file an electronic proof of claim at http://www.canb.uscourts.gov.

Debtor: Fox Ortega Enterprises, Inc.
EIN: 94-3660341
US Bankruptcy Court: Northern District of California
Case Number: 16-40050
Date Filed for Chapter 7: 1/8/2016


ALl documents filed in the case may be inspected at http://www.pacer.gov.

Hope tthat helps!
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Andy Velebil
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Re: Premier Cru warning

Post by Andy Velebil »

Posted at Wineberserkers.....
Received notice from the court that a website has been set up to provide information and parties in interest must elect to receive paper or electronic notices henceforth (notices will continue to be sent it directly related to the specific creditor).

To receive electronic note of pleadings, register at the following "cite" (sic): http://www.bmcgroup.com/premiercru

It appears there are 146 documents posted so far.
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Re: Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Proof of Claim Filing Deadline & Details

Post by Marco D. »

Stewart T. wrote:Filing Deadline is 5/24/2016...!
Thanks!
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Andy Velebil
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Re: Premier Cru warning

Post by Andy Velebil »

A bit more from WB forum.
3/7 JOHN FOX BANKRUPTCY UPDATE - JOHN FOX REFUSES TO PROVIDE PERSONAL INCOME STATEMENT TO COURT

Earlier today, John Fox submitted his personal income statement to the court. The schedule lists his monthly income as $0. In an addendum to the income statement, John Fox writes :

"Due to an active FBI investigation and based upon advice of counsel, the debtor asserts his 5th
Amendment rights not to answer the questions required by Form 122A-1, Chapter 7 Statement of Your
Current Monthly Income."

I've uploaded a PDF of his (non) disclosure here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxE5z ... UF2c0RlNUk
and
For those who would prefer to search the "in-stock" wines I ran it through Acrobat Pro's OCR tool.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4xdi8bfhd300t ... y.pdf?dl=0
A quick look does show some Port in that list.
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Lindsay E.
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Re: Premier Cru warning

Post by Lindsay E. »

Matt K wrote:FYI: I received notice & instructions for the US Bankruptcy court last week.

Seeing as they have $70MM in liabilities and $7MM in assets I'm filing a claim with Amex. They immediately credited back one order when I filed the claim online but the smaller 1/3rd wouldn't work online, I had to call in and they're 'opening' an investigation,' so I've no idea how this will work out.

Bottom line: file a claim with your CC company, IMO it's your best bet.
Matt, I did just that for my single outstanding bottle of Krohn's. I was just notified on Friday by my credit card company that the temporary credit I was issued on my claim was made permanent. So, disputing the claim with the credit card company could be a good route to go for some people. I'm sorry to hear about the other members still in limbo having to file with the court. My hope is that we all can remember this lesson in the future and make more of a rukus at the first instance that a wine company fails to deliver an order.
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Andy Velebil
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Re: Premier Cru warning

Post by Andy Velebil »

Lindsay E. wrote:
Matt K wrote:FYI: I received notice & instructions for the US Bankruptcy court last week.

Seeing as they have $70MM in liabilities and $7MM in assets I'm filing a claim with Amex. They immediately credited back one order when I filed the claim online but the smaller 1/3rd wouldn't work online, I had to call in and they're 'opening' an investigation,' so I've no idea how this will work out.

Bottom line: file a claim with your CC company, IMO it's your best bet.
Matt, I did just that for my single outstanding bottle of Krohn's. I was just notified on Friday by my credit card company that the temporary credit I was issued on my claim was made permanent. So, disputing the claim with the credit card company could be a good route to go for some people. I'm sorry to hear about the other members still in limbo having to file with the court. My hope is that we all can remember this lesson in the future and make more of a rukus at the first instance that a wine company fails to deliver an order.
Lindsay
Glad it worked out for you. Hopefully Matt was able to do the same with his CC company.
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Stewart T.
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Re: Premier Cru warning

Post by Stewart T. »

That is good. Wells Fargo wasnt quiet as accomodating. I used a debit card rather than a credit card, so i suspect that i might have gotten more results had i used a cc. WF basically just said "we did not determine that the charges were fraudulent". I guess they stopped at "did you authorize the charges or not". However, i had to explain the situation about four times to the same account person, so not sure how thoroughly they considered my claim.
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Tom Archer
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Re: Premier Cru warning

Post by Tom Archer »

Claiming via CC insurance seems a good call.

Otherwise, I'd recommend submitting claims not for cash but for recovery of specified goods stored by them on your behalf, with as much supporting documentation as possible. I'm no expert on the US law of title, but I think a UK court would accept that goods belonging to third parties could not be liquidated to settle creditors debts - the fact that they are present within the premises of an insolvent company would not negate your title to them, assuming you had paid for them in full.

However, it would not be surprising if some or all of the client stock was inadequately labelled, so it might be worth enquiring as to how and when stock is to be liquidated and demand sight of the inventories, so challenges can be raised.

Given the stated ratio of debts to assets, you can kiss goodbye to any financial claim however, as preferential creditors such as the taxman and the insolvency lawyers will doubtless wipe it out before there is anything left to distribute.
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Re: Premier Cru warning

Post by Moses Botbol »

Are Premier Cru's assets going to be auctioned off?
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Eric Menchen
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Re: Premier Cru warning

Post by Eric Menchen »

Moses Botbol wrote:Are Premier Cru's assets going to be auctioned off?
I believe so. There was mention of consultants for that in some of the court papers I've received. Which lead me to at least consider the possibility I might end up buying my own wine at auction.
Moses Botbol
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Re: Premier Cru warning

Post by Moses Botbol »

Eric Menchen wrote:
Moses Botbol wrote:Are Premier Cru's assets going to be auctioned off?
I believe so. There was mention of consultants for that in some of the court papers I've received. Which lead me to at least consider the possibility I might end up buying my own wine at auction.
and then you wine gets stolen for UPS upon delivery...
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