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IN THE UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
HOUSTON DIVISION
IN RE: §
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TAXMASTERS, INC. § CASE NO. 12-32065-H2
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Debtor § (Chapter 7)
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TRUSTEE’S FOURTH STATUS REPORT To the Honorable David R. Jones,
United States Bankruptcy Judge:
1. In preparation for completing the Debtor’s removal from the leased premises at Town & Country (the “T&C Property”), the Trustee sought and received court authority to sell two categories of items. The first was the Appliances and Property detailed in Doc. No. 183, and the second was the Cartridges detailed in Doc. No. 186. The Trustee received court authority to sell both [See Doc. Nos. 185 and 188].
2. The Trustee has completed the authorized sale of the Cartridges to Cartridge World Dunvale. All relevant stock has been removed from the T&C Property, and the Trustee has received payment.
3. The sale of the Appliances and Property did not go through. The Trustee files this Fourth Status Report, in large part, to provide a detail of today’s events.
4. Prior to filing his motion regarding the sale of the Appliances and Property, the Trustee’s counsel met, on two occasions, with Anthony Welch (“Welch”), regarding his desire to purchase certain property. As a follow up to one of those meetings, Trustee’s counsel sent an email to reiterate certain terms and to explain how the parties would move forward related to the potential sale. In this email (which is attached hereto as Exhibit “A” and is incorporated herein
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for all purposes), Trustee’s counsel specifically stated that the relevant property was to be removed on Saturday, July 7, 2012, and the movers were to bring supplies to protect the building’s slate floor/elevators. Furthermore, Trustee’s counsel stated that the purchase price would need to be tendered prior to the move of any of the property.
5. Subsequent to filing the motion to sell and subsequent to receiving court authority to move forward with the sale, Trustee’s counsel again emailed Welch informing him that court approval had been secured. Trustee’s counsel reiterated the need that his movers have appropriate insurance and protective equipment/supplies. A copy of this email is attached hereto as Exhibit “B” and is incorporated herein for all purposes.
6. Shortly after the second email, Trustee’s counsel sent a third email to Welch which provided the email address for the building manager of the T&C Property. Trustee’s counsel instructed Welch that proof of insurance needed to be sent to her. Trustee’s counsel requested that she be cc’d. A copy of this email is attached hereto as Exhibit “C” and is incorporated herein for all purposes.
7. Welch responded to both of these emails with one word replies—“OK.” Copies of his responses are attached hereto as Exhibit “D” and are incorporated herein for all purposes.
8. Friday night, when Trustee’s counsel had not heard from either Welch or his movers related to the proof of insurance, Trustee’s counsel again emailed Welch and requested that he confirm that the movers had provided their insurance information to building management. A copy of this email is attached hereto as Exhibit “E” and is incorporated herein for all purposes.
9. Welch failed to respond to the request of Trustee’s counsel. Instead, on Saturday morning, at 8:56 A.M., he emailed Trustee’s counsel to let her know that something had come
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up, he needed to go to Austin, and the move would need to be rescheduled. At 9:00 A.M., Trustee’s counsel responded indicating that the purchase was contingent upon removal occurring today, and that Welch could still send his movers. At 9:18 A.M., after hearing nothing back from Welch, Trustee’s counsel again emailed Welch informing him that if the property was not removed today, she would inform the court that he had breached the agreement and no sale would occur. Copies of these emails are attached hereto as Exhibit “F” and are incorporated herein for all purposes.
10. At 9:42 A.M., Welch emailed Trustee’s counsel stating that the movers would be at the T&C Property. Trustee’s counsel responded by asking if they had sent their insurance information. A copy of this exchange is attached as Exhibit “G” and are incorporated herein for all purposes.
11. Shortly after noon, Trustee’s counsel called Welch to confirm that insurance information had been provided to building management. Trustee’s counsel was instructed to call a third party who would be “handling the move”—a woman by the name of Charlotte. Trustee’s counsel called Charlotte, and Charlotte assured Trustee’s counsel that the movers would be at the T&C property at 2:00 P.M., and that she would have the appropriate insurance documentation in addition to the appropriate equipment/supplies needed to protect the floors and elevators. Trustee’s counsel left for the T&C Property at approximately 12:55 P.M., in order to be on location for the move by 1:30 P.M. At 1:03 P.M., Welch called Trustee’s counsel. Welch informed Trustee’s counsel that he had supposedly cancelled his original movers that morning after realizing he needed to go to Austin. Then, when he tried to reschedule them, they were unavailable, so he had to get new movers at the last minute. Because he had to get movers at the last minute, they were already out working, and they were not carrying their insurance
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information with them. Because of that, the “new” movers would not be able to provide the appropriate insurance documentation prior to the move. At this point, Trustee’s counsel asked Welch, “Are you lying to me?”
12. Welch’s response was especially emphatic—not with regard to the fact that he was telling the truth, but rather, with regard to his assertions that Trustee’s counsel was a racist, was treating Welch as though he were “from the ghetto,” and that she would never be acting this way with a white man. (Welch is African-American.) Welch also told Trustee’s counsel that “[he] could create real problems for [her].” Trustee’s counsel responded by asking Welch if he was threatening her. Needless to say, communication broke down at that point. Prior to ending the phone conversation, Trustee’s counsel did state that what she wanted was for the move to occur at 2:00, for the movers to be insured, and for the movers to have the appropriate equipment/supplies. Welch stated that he would call Trustee’s counsel back. At 1:14 P.M., Welch called Trustee’s counsel back and informed her that the move would occur on Monday. Trustee’s counsel stated, “No, it will not,” and hung up. Welch called Trustee’s counsel two more times after that call; however, Trustee’s counsel did not answer. Welch later sent two text messages to Trustee’s counsel. The first read, “We can still savage [sic] this deal, its [sic] up to you.” The second read, “If you go through with the deal I can bring the cashier [sic] check to your office Monday.” In between receiving the two text messages, Trustee’s counsel called the Trustee to report the above-detailed events. The Trustee directed his counsel not to go forward with the sale.
13. Given that the sale with Welch did not go forward, the Appliances and Property are still sitting at the T&C Property. All other matters have been addressed—i.e., the Cartridges have been removed and there is no additional property/trash to look through with regard to
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locating client documents and/or other papers that should be stored temporarily. Trustee’s counsel and a representative from the Trustee’s office have consolidated the trash as best possible and it awaits removal by building management. To the best of the Trustee’s knowledge, nothing remains at the T&C Property which constitutes a document requiring preservation or property which the Trustee intends to administer.1
DATED the 7th day of July, 2012.
Trustee’s counsel has briefly detailed today’s events for the counsel to the landlord of the T&C Property. More importantly, Trustee’s counsel has stated to the landlord’s counsel that the Debtor is fully vacated from the T&C Property as of today. To the extent the landlord would like to make the Appliances and Property available to charity, Trustee’s counsel is willing to arrange for a pick-up by a local charity; however, the Trustee does not intend to supervise such move. The Trustee will continue to communicate with the landlord in terms of whether abandonment or some other arrangement will be appropriate as it relates to the Appliances and Property.
Respectfully submitted, By: /s/ Heather R. Potts
HEATHER R. POTTS State Bar No. 24051204 W. STEVE SMITH State Bar No. 18700000 1331 Lamar Street, Ste. 1250 Houston, Texas 77010 Telephone: (713) 590-9300 Facsimile: (713) 590-9399 ATTORNEYS FOR TRUSTEE
1 Shred-It mistakenly overlooked one console when they removed their other consoles on July 2, 2012. They will
remove that console on July 10, 2012. Also, a Trustee representative will return to the T&C Property tomorrow afternoon or Tuesday to remove some recently purchased boxes which were too big to be removed today. Trustee’s counsel has informed the landlord and building management about these two issues and has stated that neither issue should prevent the landlord from moving forward with any action to show the property and or begin renovations/preparations for a new tenant.
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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I hereby certify that true and correct copy of the above filing will be served on July 9, 2012, on all parties listed on the attached list via regular first class mail, postage prepaid. All ECF users registered in this case will receive electronic service (via PACER) of this filing on July 7, 2012.
/s/ Heather R. Potts HEATHER R. POTTS
SERVICE LIST – FOURTH STATUS REPORT
Ellen M. Hickman Office of the U.S. Trustee 515 Rusk Ave., Ste. 3516 Houston, TX 77002
*Tax Masters, Inc. d/b/a Texas TaxMasters d/b/a TaxMasters
900 Town & Country Lane, Ste. 400 Houston, TX 77024
Johnie J. Patterson
Johnie J. Patterson Miriam Goott
Walker & Patterson, P.C. P.O. Box 61301
Houston, TX 77208
Turner/CNN Attn: Louise Sams One CNN Center Atlanta, GA 30303
Blank Rome One Logan Square 130 N. 18th St.
Philadelphia, PA 19103
*Maxximedia 202 Travis
Houston, TX 77002
Fox News Channel Media Sales
1211 Ave. of the Americas, 22nd Fl. New York, NY 10036
AMEX
P.O. Box 981540 El Paso, TX 79998
Westwood One Attn: Hiram Lazar
11812 San Vicente Blvd., Ste. 350 Los Angeles, CA 90049
History Channel Attn: Ms. Nancy Alpert 235 East 45th St. New York, NY 10017
DAP
c/o Briarhollow Realty Group 2000 S. Dairy Ashford, Ste. 140 Houston, TX 77077
Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell 600 Travis, Ste. 2800 Houston, TX 77002
MSNBC
Attn: Sharon Otterman 30 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10112
Dell
c/o DFS Customer Care Dept. P.O. Box 81577
Austin, TX 78708
Caufield & James
2851 Camino Del Rio South, Ste. 410 San Diego, CA 92108
Malone & Bailey
10350 Richmond Ave., Ste. 800 Houston, TX 77042
Yahoo
3333 West Empire Ave. Burbank, CA 91504
The Weather Channel 300 Interstate North Parkway Atlanta, GA 30339
Patrick R. Cox
c/o John Wesley Wauson WAUSON ♦PROBUS,P.C.
1 Sugar Creek Center Blvd, Ste. 880 Sugar Land, TX 77478
John Rottaris
456 Main St., Ste. 600 Buffalo, NY 14203
Discovery Channel Attn: Bruce Campbell 1 Discovery Place Silver Spring, MD 20910
RRBB
265 Davidson Ave., Ste. 210 Somerset, NJ 08873
ESPN Advertising/Communications 77 W. 66th St.
New York, NY 10023
Securities & Exchange Commission 100 F. St., NE
Washington, DC20549
Securities & Exchange Commission Suite 1900
801 Cherry St., Unit 18 Fort Worth, TX 76102
Hal F. Morris Ashley F. Bartram
Office of the Attorney General Bankruptcy & Collections Division P.O. Box 12548
Austin, TX 78701
Office of MN Attorney General 1400 Bremer Tower 445 Minnesota St. St. Paul, MN 55101 *Robert J. Rosenberg 53rd at Third 885 Third Ave. New York, NY 1022 David Augustus The Spencer Law Firm 4635 SW Freeway, Ste. 900 Houston, TX 77027
Merchant Services, Inc. d/b/a EVO c/o Erin J. Jones
Mark Siurek
The State Bank of Texas c/o William A. (Trey) Wood III
The State Bank of Texas c/o Jason G. Cohen
Ms. Deena Wissore P.O. Box 2151
Running Springs, CA 92382
Securities & Exchange Commission c/o Jolene M. Wise
Harris County c/o John P. Dillman
Jeffrey A. Marks
Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP 302 East Fourth St.
Suite 3500, Great American Tower Cincinnati, OH 45202
Kelly, Remmel & Zimmerman Merchant Service, Inc. d/b/a EVO c/o Timothy H. Norton
53 Exchange St. P.O. Box 597
Portland, Maine 04112 Terry L. Abram
c/o Howard B. Cohen
Gross, Shuman, Brizdle, & Gilfillani 465 Main Street, Suite 600
Buffalo, NY 14203
Sharon E. Marshall 5837 Martel Ave. Dallas, TX 75206
Otis Lee Harris, Sr. c/o E. Rhett Buck 3730 Kirby Dr., Ste. 1200 Houston, TX 77098
Jim R. Smith Interest c/o Karen E. Murray Craddock Massey LLP 1400 Post Oak Blvd., Ste. 640 Houston, TX 77002
Alan M. Serna
c/o Sidney J. Diamond Diamond Law 3800 N. Mesa, Ste. B-3 El Paso, TX 79902 Patrick R. Cox 247 Hedwig Rd. Houston, TX 77024
The Comptroller of Public Accounts of the State of Texas c/o Jason A. Starks
Assistant Attorney General Bankruptcy & Collections Division P.O. Box 12548
Austin, TX 78711
Leonard H. Simon PENDERGRAFT &SIMON
The Riviana Building 2777 Allen Parkway, Ste. 800 Houston, TX 77019
