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Christian School to disburse $55,000

Only one creditor has responded so far to a call from the Hendersonville Christian School to make a claim for unpaid bills.

The school has $55,362 that it will distribute under a court-supervised dissolution of the non-profit organization.
A Superior Court judge appointed a receiver to handle the disbursement of $55,362 to unsecured creditors and other claimants under an arrangement ordered by the state attorney general. Judge Alan Z. Thornburg of Asheville on Feb. 19 appointed Hendersonville attorney William L. Gardo II to oversee the the disbursement of the money remaining after Henderson County bought the property for $911,317 and secured creditors were paid.
The short sale produced $765,000 for TD Bank, which held two mortgages on the school property, $26,898.57 to the Employment Security Commission and $59,150 in real estate commission to Southern Commercial Properties. Because the sale involved a non-profit organization, the state attorney general's office reviewed the circumstances of the transaction and the disposition of the assets.
The sale of the school buildings and land was handled by James L. "Skip" Goldsmith Jr., the school's attorney and its last headmaster. Goldsmith had proposed receiving a payment of $20,000 to cover his work guiding the process from last May, when the school went out of business, until January. The attorney general blocked the payment, saying an independent receiver should oversee the final distribution of the remaining money. After the bank mortgage, liens and other secured debt was paid, the sale produced net proceeds of $55,362.54 that Hendersonville Christian School Inc. can now disburse.
In his order appointing Gardo as receiver on Feb. 18, Judge Thornburg directed the closing attorney, B.B. "Buddy" Massagee III, to transfer the leftover money to Gardo's trust account.
Based on the agreement with the attorney general, the school was to contact its unsecured creditors and inform them of the receivership. In her review of the property sale, Assistant Attorney General Kimberly A. D'Arruda reported that there were 25 unsecured creditors who were owed a total of $82,700. So far only the city of Hendersonville has filed a claim.
As receiver, Gardo "will determine the validity of any claims and the amount to be paid to the school's unsecured creditors that participate in the judicial dissolution," including the determination of legal fees and costs incurred by Goldsmith. Gardo, too, will be paid from the net proceeds.
Gardo said in an interview that he had received the order appointing him as receiver in the mail and so far had done little on the case.
"You are the first call I've had," he said.
He recommended that unsecured creditors contact him by mail at his office,
921 Oakland Street, Hendersonville, N.C., 28791.
"If they would notify me of the claim that would certainly be helpful," he said. They should also notify the Clerk of Superior Court. Eighteen unsecured creditors were mailed a summons notifying them of the chance to file a claim in Superior Court. The summons gave the creditors 10 days to file a written answer.
Once the claims are in, Gardo will file a report on the claims and how much each creditor would get. The disbursement, Gardo said, would then be certified by the clerk of Superior Court, Kim Gasperson Justice and approved by a Superior Court judge.
"It didn't have any time restriction" on how soon the dissolution would happen, Gardo said. "My preference would be to do it sooner rather than later. I don't want to be a year from now still dealing with it."
By Monday only the city of Hendersonville had filed a claim. Unsecured creditors notified by the court included Aventa Learning, of Bloomsburg, Pa., McNutt Service Group of Arden; Jostens, a school yearbook company in Chicago; NCS Pearson Inc., Chicago; Southern Alarm; L&R Sons, Mountain Home; Carolina Landscape, Flat Rock; Terminix; Carolina Ace Hardware; Sharp Business Systems; Advanced Computers; GDS-Hendersonville; Software Technology, Mobile, Ala.; PSNC Energy; AT&T; Duke Energy; and city of Hendersonville water.