Groups file Ch. 7 petition against Same Day Service

Three media groups filed a joint involuntary bankruptcy petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court May 22 against Dependable Same Day Service Inc. and its owner, Ron Bass, requesting an order for relief against the business under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

Journal Broadcast Group Inc., parent company of KTTS AM and FM, Springfield Operating LLC, parent company of Springfield 33 television station and Lamar Advertising of Missouri, a provider of billboard advertising, are owed an aggregate amount of $50,653.35 by Bass's company for unpaid advertising debts, according to the petition. Involuntary bankruptcy action can be taken against a company when at least three creditors hold unsecured claims aggregating at least $5,000 against the debtor. When applied to a business, Chapter 7 bankruptcy usually involves liquidation proceedings, in which assets are sold by a trustee to pay the company's debts.

The involuntary bankruptcy petition came after three judgments ordered in the Greene County Circuit and Associate Circuit Courts against the eight-year-old residential maintenance and repair business went unpaid. The judgments dated from November 1999 to January of this year.

Bass said his attorney, Raymond Plaster, plans to ask the court to convert the involuntary Chapter 7 petition to a voluntary Chapter 11 petition, which would allow Bass to stay open, reorganize the company and pay its debts over time.

"We were really disappointed (with the involuntary petition) because we were making payments, but I guess we weren't doing it fast enough," Bass said.

Celeste Skidmore, Journal Broadcast Group's business manager, represents the company in the involuntary petition. She said Bass had been making payments to Journal Broadcast Group through attorney Dudley Martin's office, but that the payments stopped about six or seven months ago. Bass owes Journal Broadcast Group approximately $25,000. Martin represents the three companies in the bankruptcy action against Same Day Service.

"We would much rather have had the money than do this, but (Bass) wasn't making the payments that he agreed to before," Skidmore said.

Plaster said an answer to the involuntary bankruptcy petition must be filed by June 14, and technically, there could be a trial over the merits of the petition.

"Those creditors still have to prove their entitlement to that relief. One of the things a debtor can do in the face of a Chapter 7 involuntary petition, is to ask the court to convert the case to Chapter 11, or one of the reorganization plan chapters," Plaster said. "Typically, debtors do that for the benefit for all the creditors as a whole, as opposed to getting liquidated, where in most instances, creditors get less than they would have."

Bass said his business, which offers heating and cooling services, began losing money in 1998 as a result of two warm winters in a row and not enough contracts after six successful years in business.

"We lost a tremendous amount of money, and we couldn't recover promptly. As a result of that, we got really in debt. ... When we got in trouble, we tried to gut it out and pay everybody off," Bass said.

Bass said a reduction in overhead at Same Day Service's location at 1922-G E. Meadowmere and more seasonal weather has returned the company to profitability, and that the bankruptcy proceedings could be a blessing in disguise.

"This (Chapter 11 reorganization) will put everything into a group and we'll make payments at the courthouse every month and continue on with our business," he said.

A first hearing in the case is scheduled for 11 a.m. June 26 at the U.S. Courthouse at 222 N. John Q. Hammons Pkwy.