When people file for bankruptcy, it can be a real load off the mind to know that real debt relief is right around the corner. However, it is crucial to follow all the steps laid out by the bankruptcy court until the process is formalized and approved. One man whose filing has raised a lot of eyebrows recently had his bankruptcy case dismissed because he failed to meet some court-required deadlines for filing paperwork.
The man is Halsey Minor, who founded and sold CNET Networks for nearly $2 billion about five years ago. His personal stake was in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Since that time, however, he has made a series of bad investments and elected to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in an attempt to wipe his financial slate clean. He claimed he owed about $50 million more than he had in assets at the time of his filing.
In order to continue with the filing, Minor and his legal team had to submit to the court several documents including an explanation of his current financial situation as well as a detailed list of his assets. The court’s deadline for doing so was June 7.
As might be imagined, when the deadline was missed by a few days, the bankruptcy court was not very forgiving. It dismissed the case outright over the failure to file the documents. Now Minor will have to file a request to have the case reinstated — which is likely to happen. But it is an extra step that he would not have had to take if his attorneys had been on top of his situation.
Source: Bloomberg, “CNET Founder’s Bankruptcy Thrown Out Over Missed Deadline,” Erik Larson and Dawn McCarty, June 13, 2013
