Miami Lawyer Blog

Bankruptcy is not just affecting Miami citizens, but business owners as well. One such example is that of The Water Club in Miami Florida. The owners of the waterfront restaurant which offers an indoor and outdoor dining experience filed for bankruptcy back in February according to the Miami Hearld.

The restaurant opened just nine months before and was host to many celebrities and high class locals. The restaurant even employed two of the nation's hottest chefs, Andrea-Curto Randazzo and her husband Frank Randazzo. They were only there for a few months before they left. Everything went downhill from there.

Not long after the famous chef partnership left the restaurant, employees complained that their paychecks were bouncing and some cases refused to return to work until they were paid. Vendors also were not paid on time. Employees relay that they saw the restaurant going down months before the bankruptcy was actually filed.

The owners failed to pay rent in full, despite the fact that they were still collecting revenue. The landlord claims that the owners of the Miami based restaurant owe over three hundred thousand in rent. They also owe employees who were not paid for their last week's worth of work.

Chapter 11 bankruptcy is a great way to reorganize your debts and still keep your doors open for business, however if you fail to make the payments the courts may decide to rehabilitate your debts on their own terms. An experienced Miami bankruptcy attorney can help make the process quite a bit easier. In the case of The Water Club, it is a case of a "too little, too late". It is still unclear as to how the rest of this story will pan out, keep checking back to find out how this situation will close.

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NORTH MIAMI BREACH: SHUTTERED WATER CLUB OWES MONEY, SAY WORKERS. BY NADEGE CHARLES MARCH 3RD, 2011

Coral Gables dentist Dr. Rene Piedra likely left patients he was accused of overcharging for dental work high and dry by filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Several of Piedra's patients are claimed he allowed them to open a line of credit through his practice but then over charged them by thousands of dollars for dental work and then refusing to issue refunds. Piedra claimed he intends to issue refunds, but merely needs time to figure out which patients are owed and how much. Instead of answering questions from local new networks about how long it will take him to figure it out, he deferred to his bankruptcy lawyer. His lawyer states that the patients who are owed money will be repaid during the restructuring process. With his recent filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the chance that those patients will receive a full refund is unlikely. It is far more likely that Piedra managed to avoid giving full refunds by filing for Chapter 11. Is it really so easy for a company to scam people they are supposed to help and then just file for bankruptcy and avoid paying? Most people use bankruptcy as a way to get out of a financial crisis, but there are always people who will try to take advantage of the situation. Wondering how that is possible?

Chapter 11 bankruptcy is a restructuring bankruptcy, not a liquidation bankruptcy. In liquidation, a business's assets would be sold and the profits used to pay of creditors. If the dentist does not have a large amount of debt, the patients may have gotten all their money back.. However, in restructuring bankruptcy the business will stay open and pay off some of the debt over a longer period of time and some of the debt will be discharged. The payment plans in Chapter 11 can be as long as five years, which means his patients will likely not get back all of their money and have to wait years. Fortunately, a court has to approve the filing. If Piedra is not overwhelmed with debt and does have the money to issue full refunds, the courts can reject his appeal and he could be forced to pay the amounts back in full. Depending on the business classification of his practice, Piedra could avoid having to sell his expensive car to repay his patients.

Luckily, there are several safe guards within the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process to keep businesses and individuals from taking advantage of the process. During the Chapter 11 process, businesses are forced to restructure they way they run to become more profitable. They may be forced to sell off unprofitable parts of the company and large companies might be forced to close unsuccessful branches or stop providing services that have a low profit margin. Besides the restructuring process, creditors do not have to agree to Chapter 11, and the courts can also reject the proposal. So, there are a few different ways to keep businesses from scamming people and then avoiding payment.

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Dentist In Local 10 Investigation Files For Bankruptcy, June 30th 2008

Florida leads the nation in its number of foreclosed homes, accounting for 25% of the Nations foreclosed homes. Many of Florida's major metropolitan areas like Miami are being adversely affected by the increasing numbers of foreclosures and subsequent bankruptcies. Florida's overall foreclosure filing rate for January 2011 was one notice for every 409 homes. The Miami-Dade county Clerk of Courts indicates that there were 1,000 foreclosure filings for January 2011. According to RealtyTrac the number of foreclosures filings for January 2011 in the Miami area was 1 for every 460 homes. This is less than Florida's overall average of 1 foreclosure filing for every 409 homes. Miami Foreclosures are experiencing a sharp decrease from 2010 which had a total filing rate of 34,400 foreclosures and during January of 2010 there were 4,128 Miami foreclosure filings. The number of foreclosures seems to be on the decline for this area.

The overall number of Miami foreclosures is having an impact on the city itself. An abundance of foreclosures leads to unpaid or in the case of banks experiencing the homestead exemption benefits under paid property taxes. All of the Miami foreclosures leave many houses vacant and in a state of general disrepair. Houses under foreclosure do not even get the yards mowed or watered regularly, leaving many once pristine neighborhoods, looking quite shabby and run down. The Miami Herald reported on January 9, 2011 that the foreclosure process in Florida takes 2 years to complete. This means a huge back log for the Federal Bankruptcy Court systems. There are many Foreclosure Attorneys in the area that are available.

While there is a sharp decline in the number of new foreclosure fillings there is a sharp increase in the new filings for bankruptcy in the Southern District of Florida's US Bankruptcy Court which Miami is a assigned to. There were 2,377 new bankruptcy filings for January 2010 in the Southern District while January of 2011 saw 2,758 new bankruptcy filings. Even thought there are almost 75% less foreclosure notices being filed the numbers of bankruptcies is on the rise for the Miami area.

All bankruptcies are handled at the Federal level, not the state level. There are several types of Bankruptcies that an individual or married couple may file for. An individual or couple may file for bankruptcy under Chapter 7 or Chapter 13. Chapter 7 Bankruptcy requires the liquidation of assets (there are some exemptions) to repay your debts. Chapter 13 requires the filing of a repayment plan for all or some of your debts. Under chapter 13 there is no liquidation of your assets. The bankruptcy and foreclosure processes are both very complex to navigate through. An experienced Miami Attorney that specializes in either foreclosure or bankruptcy may prove to be invaluable. The cost for services can vary from Attorney to Attorney and law firm to law firm.

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Clerk of Courts, Miami Dade County Florida

Foreclosure crisis hits home for all, Sunday January 9th 2011

Miami Florida is known for its extravagant lifestyles and its beautiful coastlines. The majority of people do not consider the fact that Miami is also considering filing for bankruptcy and that its residents are also filing bankruptcy with statics that may not be very accurate. While we now know that the city itself is in severe financial trouble and considering filing for bankruptcy, but the statistics on residential bankruptcy may not be accurate.

Most experts in the Miami city believe that the latest bankruptcy statistics are not represented correctly because many residents cannot afford the court costs, and that as soon as taxes are filed, the statistics will reflect a much higher number because they will be able to afford the court costs associated with filing bankruptcy.

Filings for bankruptcy are down since January, but much higher than they were a year ago. It is thought by lawyers and city officials that the statistics are not exactly accurate. They believe that the reason for the drop is the economy. Many residents are waiting for their tax money to arrive so that they may continue the filing process. The average salary for most residents is only around $29,000, which can account for the need to wait to file for bankruptcy.

This could mean that over the course of the next couple of months, we will see a massive amount of bankruptcy filings in Miami as tax returns make their way into the resident's bank accounts. So the statistics for bankruptcy will again be much higher than they were a year ago.

It is not just the residents that are filing for bankruptcy, but the city is also considering filing for bankruptcy. They may be able to avoid this measure if they can do one of a couple of things. They could renegotiate union contracts or lay off city employees. If the city cannot make one of those two things happen, and happen soon, Miami will find itself filing for bankruptcy.

The economy is shown in its most blatant form here in Miami. The amount of residents filing for bankruptcy is much higher than previous years and the city of Miami itself is also a victim in these hard economical times. Residents are also seeking help from local bankruptcy attorneys to ensure that they are filing properly. Miami bankruptcy lawyers are being utilized now more than ever because of the fear of accidentally committing bankruptcy fraud. Check back soon to find out more about Bankruptcy fraud.

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February bankruptcies down 5% from January, March 01, 2011|By Marcia Heroux Pounds, Sun Sentinel