San Jose and Los Altos Bay Area Bankruptcy news/blog

Los Altos specialty markets saved from bankruptcy

Click photo to enlarge

Andronico's Market is pictured in Los Altos on Friday, Sept. 2, 2011. The specialty market chain...

• «
• 1
• 2
• »

As reported by Daily News Staff Writer on 10/27/2011, two Los Altos specialty chain markets may avoid having to close after a private investment firm agreed to save them from bankruptcy.

Renovo Capital bought both San Leandro-based A.G. Ferrari Foods and San Francisco-based Andronico's Markets. After filing for bankruptcy in April, A.G. Ferrari was purchased for $1.2 million a few weeks ago. Andronico's was bought for $16 million last week.
"These things can take a little bit of time, but it's been a very quick process," Andronico's spokesman Adam Alberti said. "It's been a period of around 60 days -- that's really unusual."
Just months after closing branches in Palo Alto, officials from both chains have confirmed that the Los Altos stores are safe and preparing for the holiday season.
However, one of Andronico's four Berkeley stores will close this weekend as part of the bankruptcy proceedings, Alberti said. "It's fairly safe to presume that it was not operating," Alberti said of the store at 1414 University Ave. in Berkeley.
Andronico's employs 440 workers in its stores and state Employment Development Department documents show that 24 jobs will be eliminated with the closure of the University Avenue store.
Founded by Greek immigrant Frank Andronico in 1929, the chain will continue to operate three stores in Berkeley, one in San Francisco and one in San Anselmo. The Andronico's name will be kept, and when asked about CEO Bill Andronico, Alberti said Renovo has "stated
that they intend to keep in large part the executive team."
After an aggressive expansion into the East Bay in the late 1990s failed, Andronico's continued to amass debt until it filed for bankruptcy protection on Aug. 22.
The Palo Alto store at the Stanford Shopping Center closed July 24 after about 14 years in business. Like A.G. Ferrari, which closed its downtown store five months ago, the two chains cut their Palo Alto locations due to high leases. Customers were redirected to the Los Altos branches, where Andronico's operates out of the Rancho Shopping Center and A.G. Ferrari in downtown on Main Street.
A.G. Ferrari was founded in 1919 and also operates two branches in Oakland, three in San Francisco, and one each in Berkeley, Lafayette and Corte Madera. The chain employs about 100 people overall, and fewer than 10 work at the Los Altos store, said Danielle Caponi, A.G. Ferrari's director of marketing.
The Renovo purchase is "a really positive change," Caponi said. Alberti added that there is a lot of optimism at Andronico's that Renovo will enhance the brand.
And there may even be opportunity for collaboration between the two chains in the future.
While Andronico's cater to specialty wine, deli and produce needs, A.G. Ferrari produces pastas, sauces, olive oils and vinegars from all over Italy. Those products could show up on Andronico's shelves at some point, Caponi said

Do you have any questions regarding bankruptcy in San Jose, Milpitas, Los Altos or any city in Bay Area? Please contact the Bankruptcy Lawyers and Debt Relief Attorneys at http://www.nwosulaw.com/ or call 408-912-5983.

San Jose Lawyer - Even Cities are Looking for Federal Bankruptcy Protection

Pa. lawyers, mayor oppose Harrisburg bankruptcy

As reported By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press on 10/14/2011 12:24:17 PM PDT

HARRISBURG, Pa.—Lawyers for the state of Pennsylvania and Harrisburg's mayor have asked a federal judge to throw out the bankruptcy petition for the city filed this week after a divided City Council voted for it.

Philadelphia attorney Neal Colton filed the state's objections to the bankruptcy on Friday, saying a state law expressly forbids it, while Harrisburg lawyer Kenneth Lee told the court the city and Mayor Linda Thompson believe the petition is not valid.
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Mary France scheduled a status conference on the case Monday morning in Harrisburg.
"No one, least of all the commonwealth, denies that Harrisburg is confronted with serious financial difficulties that must be addressed," wrote Colton, who did not return a phone message. "That is all the more reason, however, why Harrisburg cannot afford to waste any further time and resources on this patently illegal usurpation of the commonwealth's sovereignty."
The law he cited was passed earlier this year to prohibit any third-class city that qualifies under state law as "financially distressed," a description that fits Harrisburg, from filing for bankruptcy until July 2012, and that it would lose all state funding if it did.
"The commonwealth is unaware of any reported case, from any jurisdiction in the United States, in which a municipality such as Harrisburg has so brazenly disregarded an express statutory denial of authority to file a Chapter 9 petition,"
Colton argued. Mark D. Schwartz, the lawyer hired by the council to pursue the bankruptcy, said the law is poorly worded and is unconstitutional because it targeted Harrisburg in particular.
"This hardly seems to be a prohibition," he said. "It says you shouldn't, but if you do, this is what happens. OK, fine."
He said a small amount of state funding is at stake.
"If that's the penalty for filing, so be it," Schwartz said.
Lee said the council majority and Schwartz did not have the authority to file for bankruptcy and asked France to dismiss the petition.
"The city is extremely concerned that members of the City Council and attorney Schwartz will attempt to further perpetuate this unauthorized bankruptcy case to the detriment of the city, its creditors and other stakeholders in blatant disregard of the proper procedures for the functioning of the city," Lee wrote in an emergency request filed late Thursday.
Schwartz said Thompson is not entitled to play an active part in the bankruptcy case.
"That may be the one thing the governor, General Assembly and I agree on—she has absolutely no role in these proceedings," he said.
Schwartz filed the Chapter 9 bankruptcy petition after City Council voted 4-3 Tuesday to authorize it. It said the city is saddled with about $458 million in creditors and claims, and is in "imminent jeopardy" from six pending lawsuits related to its aging, debt-saddled municipal incinerator.
The council majority and Thompson have clashed over a recovery plan developed with state officials, leading area state lawmakers to push a bill that would let the governor declare a state of fiscal emergency and install someone to make decisions about government services and spending.
That measure, supported by Gov. Tom Corbett, has passed the House and is expected to be taken up by the Senate next week.
 Are you looking for a San Jose Bay Area Bankruptcy Attorney or San Jose Debt Relief Lawyer to help to determine if filing bankruptcy will help you? Please contactus at 408-912-5983 or http://www.nwosulaw.com/ in San Jose, CA

San Jose Accident - Motorcyclist was killed on the highway in San Jose

As reported in San Jose examiner on 10/28/2011, Highway 101 in South San Jose was shut down for an hour last week when a motorcyclist was killed on the highway.
The California Highway Patrol reports that Hoc Nguyen, 28, was headed southbound on his 2009 Yamaha motorcycle last Thursday at about 11 p.m. when he struck some ladders that had fallen onto the freeway.  The incident resulted in a crash that sent the San Jose man flying into oncoming traffic where he was hit by a car.
The driver of the car, a 63-year-old Gilroy man, remained on scene and was not injured or charged with any crime.
The CHP investigation revealed that Nguyen was driving at about 70 mph at the time of the crash, authorities said Tuesday.  It is believed that he landed two lanes away from the initial crash site near Metcalf Road.
It is unknown how the fiberglass ladders, which were partially blocking two lanes, wound up on the freeway.

Are you looking for a San Jose Bay Area Injury Attorney or San Jose Accident Lawyer to help to determine the value of your case? Please contactus at 408-912-5983 or http://www.nwosulaw.com/ in San Jose, CA


Continue reading on Examiner.com San Jose motorcyclist killed after striking ladders in the roadway - San Francisco Crime | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/crime-in-san-francisco/san-jose-motorcyclist-killed-after-striking-ladders-the-roadway#ixzz1bZ6PJ1X1