Chapter 7
Stan Turner
On May 15, 1997, Stan filed his Chapter 11 case in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas. The next day Ram opened his debtor-in-possession account and began operations. Prior to filing his case he had called a board of director’s meeting in accordance with the companies’ bylaws but the majority stockholder, Saman Keashkear, didn’t show up for the meeting so he missed his opportunity to stop the bankruptcy filing. Of course, Ram knew he wouldn’t show up because he had left for Pakistan a week earlier. Fortunately, the bylaws didn’t require him to do anything but give ten days’ notice of the meeting to the address of each director as shown on the books and records of the corporation. Sammy also missed an opportunity to oppose the motion to terminate his salary. Of course, since he was no longer providing services to the company, Stan knew the trustee and the bankruptcy judge would support the move.
Pakimart did quite well with its reduced overhead and a four month hiatus in paying its delinquent accounts. During the first few weeks Ram was able to stash away almost ten thousand dollars and his first full month’s operating report for June 1997 showed a small profit. Small business owners often sabotaged their own businesses by drawing high salaries that the business couldn’t possibly support. Once they realized this and started taking a realistic salary a failing business often could be turned around. Stan was optimistic that Ram was on the right track and if Sammy could be squeezed out he would be able to operate the business successfully. If so, he and his family could stay in America. Unfortunately, when Sammy came back from Pakistan he was not happy to learn the business was in Chapter 11 and he could no longer call the shots. One afternoon Stan got an urgent call from Ram.
“Sammy came in the store today demanding his salary,” Ram advised.
“So, what did you tell him?”
“Just what you said. That he is no longer an employee of the company and isn’t entitled to a salary.”
“What was his response?”
“He said I had three days to come up with the money he was owed or he was going to shut down the business and kick me out. . . . Can he do that?”
“No. There is an automatic stay that prohibits him from taking any action to collect a debt. If he bothers you again we can sue him for civil contempt. Do you have a number for him?”
“No. He didn’t give me a number.”
“Well, we have his address. I’ll send him a cease and desist letter. It’s the 4th of July weekend, so nothing could be done until next week anyway.”
“What’s that?”
“A letter that puts him on notice of the automatic stay and warns him if he violates it that we will sue him for contempt.”
“He says he doesn’t care about our bankruptcy.”
“He’ll care when the U.S. Marshall shows up, handcuffs him, and hauls him into court for violating a court order.”
“I hope so.”
“Maybe when he gets the letter he’ll go to an attorney and find out how things are done here in America.”
“What should I do if he comes in again and hassles me?”
“Call 9-1-1 and ask them to send the police. Have the police call me if they have any questions about the bankruptcy and your right to operate the business.”
Stan hung up and prepared a cease and desist letter addressed to Sammy. He hoped it would do the trick but knew there was a strong likelihood Sammy would ignore it. He still was obligated to put him on notice that he was in violation of the automatic stay and give him an opportunity to voluntarily comply with it, before he filed a complaint against him. As he was working Maria brought in a large envelope that had been delivered by courier. It was from the firm’s private investigators.
“Oh, these are our reports on Midtown Properties and Wilkinson Investments,” Stan noted. He opened the envelope, pulled out the reports and started reading the Midtown Properties’ report. Midtown Properties was an assumed name for the Walter S. Monday Realty Trust. It was run by Thomas Bishop, its trustee, and had numerous investment properties in Dallas including single family homes, apartments and strip centers. The beneficiaries of the trust were Tom Bishop, Pauline Bishop, Roger Monday and Pamela Smith-Watson. There were individual reports on the trustee and each beneficiary. In the operating section of the report it stated that the trust bought, sold, and managed residential and commercial real estate.
Not seeing anything startling in the Midtown Properties report he started reading the Wilkinson Investments’ report. It was a limited liability company and Thomas S. Wilkinson was the member-manager listed on the Articles of Organization. The other members included Benjamin Jamison and Christopher Hunt. The report indicated that Wilkinson Investments built office buildings and then held them for investment. There were currently thirteen buildings in their portfolio and two under construction both in the midtown area. It was in the individual report for Christopher Hunt that he found something interesting. Christopher Hunt had served two years at Huntsville for assaulting a police officer and Benjamin Jamison had done time for money laundering. Stan studied the picture of Hunt provided in the report. Hunt was a small, intense-looking man with light brown hair. To Stan his face had ambition and ego written all over it. Stan took the report into Paula’s office. She looked up expectantly when he walked in.
“Guess what?” Stan asked.
“What?” Paula asked.
“Wilkinson Investments is partially owned by a couple of ex-cons.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Christopher Hunt seems to be the muscle. He was convicted of assaulting a police officer. And Benjamin Jamison did time for money laundering.”
“Well, that’s very interesting. They would certainly have motive for destroying the value of Emilio’s restaurant, since they wanted him to sell to them.”
“Yes. They probably figured the murders would not only force him to sell, but also force him to sell cheap.”
“So, how do we prove that?” Paula asked.
“Well, we could check into some of their previous acquisitions and see if they pulled any similar tricks.”
“Good idea.”
“It’s a long shot, so let Jodie and I look into it. I’m sure you’ve got more pressing things to do.”
Paula nodded. “Right. I have to interview the kitchen and wait staff. I’m hoping one of them saw someone in the kitchen who shouldn’t have been there. We have to figure out how the poison got into the Parmesan cheese.”
“Uh huh,” Stan replied thoughtfully. “The autopsy reports should have an analysis of the poison. Perhaps they will be able to figure out where it came from. It was probably rat poison or a dozen other products you can buy at any hardware store or nursery.”
“Yeah. That’s another project on my list. I have to review all the autopsy reports with my medical expert and inspect all the evidence the prosecution has gathered from the crime scene and the execution of their search warrants.”
“Well, if you need any help let me know.”
“Thanks. I’m sure I will.”
Stan left and went back to his office to return phone calls. While he was working Jodie walked in and updated him on her progress on the Jewelry Mart case.
“So, what’s your next step?”
“I guess I’ll work on our first round of discovery. I need to get those videos so I can see what I’m up against.”
“You should do a background check on Herbert Stein too. He might have some skeletons in his closet that could help us. He is obviously not a model citizen or he wouldn’t have brought this lawsuit.”
“Good idea. I’d sure like to know what was in his safe.”
Stan thought about that a moment. “You can ask that question in your interrogatories and if he is evasive you can follow up when you take his deposition.”
“He might object on grounds of relevance, and even if I was able to force him to respond, he could easily lie about it and I’d have no way to impeach him,” Jodie replied.
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br /> “Yeah. I suppose you’re right. Except, we could argue that since Stein is claiming extreme mental distress over the gunshot wound, that had he lost what was in the safe he might have suffered more mental distress than what our client allegedly caused. In other words, Larson, by keeping Mahoney out of the safe, reduced the net amount of mental anguish Stein would have suffered. I’m sure the jury would go for it if the judge would allow it.”
“Yeah. It’s kind of convoluted, but it makes sense and would make the contents of the safe relevant to the amount of damages to award for mental distress.”
“Exactly. You can also take a look at his insurance. If he had anything really valuable he’d have to list it specifically on the application and give its value. So, if it was something he could have insured you’d find it on the policy.”
“Okay. I’ll be sure and look for that.”
“Oh,” Stan said. “Paula needs you to check out someone for her–Thomas Wilkinson. He has a company called Wilkinson Investments. They were one of the companies that were very anxious to buy Emilio’s restaurant. I have a basic report on them, but I’d like you to go in and snoop around. Maybe you could pretend to have a client interested in buying one of their buildings. Wilkinson himself doesn’t have a criminal record but his partners do. This could provide us with someone else to point to as the killer. Wilkinson wanted Emilio’s land so they orchestrated the murders to ruin his business and make him sell.”
“Sure, sounds like fun.”
“Don’t do anything that could get you hurt. All we want you to do is get inside, look around and be observant. The moment you feel the least bit nervous terminate the surveillance.”
Stan was concerned about Jodie because in her last undercover assignment she had gotten in too deep and ended up being kidnapped. Stan didn’t want a repeat of that nightmare since Jodie had narrowly escaped death. Jodie promised him she’d be careful and then left.
The next afternoon Stan was thinking about how he could find out more about Wilkinson’s two partners, Christopher Hunt and Benjamin Jamison. The criminal background reports he had were bare bones. He needed more in depth information and he knew exactly who could get it for him, Detective Bingo Besch of the Dallas Police Department. Stan had worked with Besch on several cases in the past and they were good friends. He dialed his number.
“Detective Besch.”
“Bingo. This is Stan. How are you?”
“Stan the man. I’m fine. What are you up to? . . . Wait, aren’t you defending Ricardo the Reaper?”
Stan laughed. “Well, indirectly. Actually, it’s Paula’s case.”
“A triple homicide. My God, you’ve hit the lawyer lotto.”
“Alright. Give it a rest. I need your help.”
“What can I do for you?”
“I need some info on a couple of ex-cons. I have the basic criminal background check but I need a little more in-depth information.”
“Who are these guys?”
“Real estate types but one served time for assaulting a police officer and the other one for money laundering. On the surface it looks to me like it’s some mobsters trying to go legit, but I need to know for sure.”
“So, who is your client?”
“Well, I’ll be honest. It’s an alternate theory we’re working on as to who killed the three patrons of Emilio’s restaurant. Wilkinson Investments wants Emilio’s property very badly. In fact they offered him 50% more than its appraised value but he wouldn’t sell. We figure they may have wanted to devalue his business so he had no choice but to sell to them.”
“Okay, but I’ll have to do it on my own time. I’m sure the prosecutor wouldn’t be too thrilled if he knew I was helping you.”
“Well, we’re only seeking the truth, right?”
“Right. That’s what I’ll tell him if I get caught.”
“You’re a good man, Besch.”
“What are these two goons’ names?”
“Christopher Hunt and Benjamin Jamison. I’ll email you our report to save you some time.”
“Alright. I’ll look into it and let you know.”
Stan hung up feeling good. He knew Bingo would want to get to the truth as much as he did and he was a very competent and resourceful detective. The intercom buzzed and Maria announced that Ram was on the line. Stan picked up the phone.
“What’s up, Ram?”
“Sammy is here! I saw him coming so I locked the door, but now he’s banging on it and threatening to break it down. He’s got some men with him. What should I do?”
“I told you. Call 9-1-1. I’ll be right over.”