Neither the Bankruptcy Court nor the Trustees office is allowed to provide legal advice. Should you need advice about the Allegro Law, LLC, bankruptcy case, it is suggested that you consult legal counsel of your choice. Please check this site periodically for updates.
On November 6, 2013, the Trustee completed reviewing individual claims and filed the final Motion to Strike or Reclassify claims for individual claimants (we are still awaiting Orders on some of the last filed Motions to Strike or Reclassify). There remaining six corporate claimants that have filed Proof of Claims are still pending litigation to determine their validity.
On November 4, 2013, the associated litigation in the Hamm v. Americorp, et al. case proceeded to trial. As you may be aware, Americorp was the processing agent for Allegro Law, LLC. Despite rigorously defending the case during the discovery phase, at the point of being held in contempt and attempting to stall the case at every point, the Defendants and their attorneys failed to attend the trial and did not put on a defense to the Plaintiff’s case. At this time we are awaiting the Court’s anticipated entry of Judgment against the Defendants. After the judgment is entered, we will begin the likely long process of attempting to collect the judgment.
Although we have finalized the Motion to Strike or Reclassify individual claims phase of this case, we will be unable to make a distribution to creditors until the remaining six corporate claims have been litigated. We anticipate (but do not guarantee) the final corporate claims to be heard by the Court in early 2014.
The final major hurtle that will have to be completed before distributions to creditors is made is a “Prompt Determination” from the Internal Revenue Service. This is a legal process where the bankruptcy estate requests the IRS verify the estate has no liability with the service. This process takes a minimum of six months and was begun in October, 2013.
As a reminder, the Trustee’s office is unable to provide legal advice to creditors. If you are in need of advice, or further explanation of the above stated processes, please contact an attorney.
Finally, our office is unable to entertain change of address requests. All change of address requests need to be made to: United States Bankruptcy Court, Clerk of the Court, One Church Street, Montgomery, Alabama 36104.
It has come to the Trustee’s attention that those holding claims against the Allegro Law Bankruptcy Estate are under the impression that an ultimate distribution will be the amounts stated in full in the motions filed with the Court. Please be aware that any final distribution is based on the dictates of Title 11, United States Code and computing any distribution until all claims have been reviewed and all assets recovered by the estate will be difficult and speculative.
As a result of several creditors’ misunderstanding the Motions and their conversations with our office, our office will be referring all telephone callers to review the website and only after reviewing the website (allegrobankruptcy.com) to call our office if they still have a non-legal question regarding this case. We will be unable to discuss with any creditor the amount they will receive and when distributions will be made. Again, all status updates will be made on the website allegrobankrupcty.com and all telephone calls to the Trustee’s office will be referred to this website. If you receive correspondence in the mail and are uncertain as to its content please review the website allegrobankruptcy.com or contact an attorney of your choice for advice.
We have provided an explanation of the Motions to Strike and Reclassify in a post below. Since the Trustee’s office is not allowed to provide legal advice to creditors we cannot give further clarification or individual explanations.
The Trustee is also fully aware there are multiple companies that are contact creditors requesting to purchase the creditor’s Proof of Claim. The practice of “buying” and transferring claims is a common occurrence; however the Trustee or the Court cannot vouch for legitimacy of any particular company. The companies are unaffiliated with the Trustee. If you receive correspondence from one of these companies and have a question regarding the company, please contact the company itself, or an attorney of your choice for advice.
Also, as stated below, the Trustee’s office cannot entertain change of address requests. All change of address requests need to be made to: United States Bankruptcy Court, Clerk of the Court, One Church Street, Montgomery, Alabama 36104.
Finally, any date for distributions cannot be determined at this time since there remains litigation pending in cases related to the Allegro Law bankruptcy case.
At this time we are still continuing with the process of reviewing filed Proof of Claims and filing Motions to Strike and Reclassify. We are approximately half way through this process. If your claim is subject to a Motion, you will receive notice in the mail. The Trustee will not send status updates through the mail, nor should you receive anything from the Trustee in this case, except as it pertains to your actual claim. All status updates will be made on this website.
As a reminder, we have had many inquires as to how to understand the motions. If you receive a Motion, you will see four columns. In the first column is the creditor’s name that filed the proof of claim along with the claim number. In the second column is the address we have on file for that creditor. In the third column is the amount the creditor requested that they receive on their proof of claim. In the fourth column, and the most important column, is the amount that the creditor’s claim has been reclassified to by our office. On many of the reclassified amounts there are two categories, priority and unsecured. We anticipate all funds classified as priority will be paid to the extent there are sufficient funds in the bankruptcy estate. For those amounts classified as unsecured we anticipate only a percentage will be paid, not the entire amount. We will not know the exact percentage that will be paid until all claims have been reviewed and reclassified.
If the word “strike” is in the fourth column, then we are moving to expunge, or remove, that particular proof of claim based on lack of supporting documentation both from the creditor and in our records. It is important that if we are moving to strike your claim and you have supporting documentation, (bank records, money orders, checks, etc) that you contact our office immediately to provide those documents. Once the time period has run for responses to the motion we will be unable to reinstate your proof of claim. If you have any questions on this process we ask that you please consult with an attorney.
If you have not done so already, please update your mailing address if you have relocated since filing a claim to ensure you receive any notices. Our office cannot process change of addresses. All change of address forms and any responses to a Motion need to be mailed to:
United States Bankruptcy Court Middle District of Alabama
Clerk of the Court
One Church Street
Montgomery, AL 36104.
We do not anticipate a distribution being made to creditors during the calendar year of 2013, and possibly 2014. We understand that this case was opened in 2010; however this is a complex case with thousands of creditors involved. Therefore, this case has been and will be moving slower than a “typical” bankruptcy case. We are striving to make distributions to creditors as soon as possible. Please do not call our office simply to ask when the distributions will be made. As soon as we begin the process of making distributions, we will update this website. Also, please remember we are not allowed to give legal advice. If you need legal advice please consult an attorney.
We have been informed that a third party company has been contacting creditors attempting to purchase the creditors interest in their claim. We are unaffiliated with the third party company and do not have any information pertaining to that company or their correspondence that has been mailed. If you have any questions about the company or the correspondence you received please call the company directly, their telephone number should be listed on the correspondence you received.
At this time we are continuing with the process of reviewing filed Proof of Claims and filing Motions to Strike and Reclassify. If you are subject to a Motion, you will receive notice in the mail.
We have had many inquires as to how to understand the motions. If you receive a Motion, you will see four columns. In the first column is the creditor’s name that filed the proof of claim along with the claim number. In the second column is the address we have on file for that creditor. In the third column is the amount the creditor requested that they receive on their proof of claim. In the fourth column, and the most important column, is the amount that the creditor’s claim has been reclassified to. On many of the reclassified amounts there are two categories, priority and unsecured. All funds classified as priority will be paid to the extent there are sufficient funds in the bankruptcy estate. For those amounts classified as unsecured only a percentage will be paid, not the entire amount. We will not know the exact percentage that will be paid until all claims have been reviewed and reclassified.
If the word “strike” is in the fourth column, then we are moving to expunge, or remove, that particular proof of claim based on lack of supporting documentation both from the creditor and in our records. It is important that if we are moving to strike your claim and you have supporting documentation, (bank records, money orders, checks, etc) that you contact our office immediately to provide those documents.
If you have not done so already, please update your mailing address if you have relocated since filing a claim to ensure you receive any notices. All change of address forms and any responses to a Motion need to be mailed to:
United States Bankruptcy Court Middle District of Alabama
Clerk of the Court
One Church Street
Montgomery, AL 36104.
At this time we have completed our transfer of all filed Proof of Claims from the third party claims agent, BMC Group, to the traditional CM/ECF bankruptcy web site used in all bankruptcy cases. Since the claims are no longer housed with the BMC Group, all change of address forms and all other documents to be filed need to be mailed to:
United States Bankruptcy Court Middle District of Alabama Clerk’s OfficeYou may now view all filed Proof of Claims on the Allegro Law bankruptcy case docket sheet. The docket sheet can be accessed by logging into PACER at the following web address: https://ecf.almb.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl . You will have to register for the service to view the docket sheet and there will be an access fee for viewing and printing each document. The case number for Allegro Law is 10-30631. Neither the trustee’s office nor the clerk’s office will be able to answer questions regarding PACER. If you are unable to access PACER after registering for the service, or you have questions regarding PACER, please call (800) 676-6856 or visit http://www.pacer.gov/ .
We continue to be in the process of reviewing filed Proof of Claims and filing Motions to Strike and Reclassify. If you are subject to a Motion, you will receive notice in the mail. If you have not done so already, please update your mailing address if you have relocated since filing a claim to ensure you receive any notices.
The Trustee’s office is still in the process of reviewing Proof of Claims and filing Motions to Strike and/or Reclassify. Once we have completed this stage the website will be updated. This stage is likely to last several months to a year. If you are subject to one of these motions you will receive a copy of the motion via U.S. mail. These motions are reclassifying claims pursuant to 11 U.S.C. et. seq. Furthermore, claims have been reclassified to reflect the creditor’s actual amounts paid into Allegro; verified either through Allegro records or the supporting documents the creditor provided with their Proof of Claim.
If you feel that your claim was unfairly struck or reclassified, do not contact the trustee’s office or send an email to this website; neither option will suffice, you will need to file a response with the Bankruptcy Court at: United States Bankruptcy Court, Clerk’s Office, One Church Street, Montgomery, AL 36104.
In the meantime, please remember the “contact tab” should be utilized for questions regarding individual claims or particularized questions that are not raised by the website. Status updates regarding the case or distributions will be addressed through the website updates and not individually through emails.
The Trustee’s office will be filing several Motions to Strike and/or Reclassify Creditor’ Claims in the upcoming weeks. If your claim is included in one of these motions you will receive a copy of the motion via U.S. mail. These motions are reclassifying claims pursuant to 11 U.S.C. et. seq. Furthermore, claims have been reclassified to reflect the creditor’s actual amounts paid into Allegro; verified either through Allegro records or the supporting documents the creditor provided with their Proof of Claim.
If you feel that your claim was unfairly struck or reclassified, do not contact the trustee’s office or send an email to this website; neither option will suffice, you will need to file an objection with the Bankruptcy Court at: United States Bankruptcy Court, Clerk’s Office, One Church Street, Montgomery, AL 36104.
Additionally, if you have changed addresses within the last one year please fill out the “Change of Address Form” located under the Documents/Forms tab and mail it to the address listed on the form.
The deadline for filing a proof of claim expired on May 31, 2011. At this time, we are processing the over 5000 claims that were filed. Processing Proof of Claims involves verification of the claim with data. This is a method to ensure all claims filed are accurate. This is a slow process that takes time to ensure that no duplicate or false claims are filed. Next, we will propose to the bankruptcy court the distribution for each client. If the court approves the distribution, then we will begin to make disbursements. All claims will be paid pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 726. Claims processing is a lengthy process and could take a number of months to complete. We are in the process of updating the “Filed Claim” and the “Docket” tabs at the top of the page.Allegro Law, LLC Bankruptcy
Due to the many requests from former Allegro Law, LLC clients seeking confirmation that Proof of Claims were received by the claims agent we are providing a “Filed Claim” tab at the top of this page. This list is alphabetically arranged and we ask that you view this listing to confirm that your claim was received. There are also questions from former Allegro Law, LLC clients as to a timeframe for distributions from the Bankruptcy Estate funds. The Bankruptcy Code requires several procedures before the payment of claims can begin and since the Proof of Claim deadline has recently expired we expect to begin some of these procedures within the next few weeks.