ARKANSASA OKLAHOMA

arailhr vlcc prddant W"fX?,YJili'1"?i,'J:,,1TJf"l: the new bankruptcy law. We do not want to overdo our reporting, but several of our members have indicated that they have been affected by involuntary proceedings filed by other creditors, despite the rigidity of the new law appllng to such filings.

Under the old Section 303, where a debtor had more than 12 creditors, at least three of those creditors who were holders of claims that were not contingent as to liability could initiate an involuntary bankruptcy action against the debtor through the filing of a petition in the federal bankruptcy court. A further proviso was that the claims of the three creditors filing the p€tition must aggregate at least $5,000 more than the value of any lien on property of the debtor securing such claims.

The amendments to the Bankruptcy Code have basically left Section 303 unchanged with one important cxception: the addition of the limitation that the claims of the thrce creditors who file the petition may not be the "subject of a bona fide dispute ." The addition of this language to Section 303 has drastically changed the scope of that law and will undoubtedly make it far more difficult for creditors to initiate involuntary bankruptcy proceedings against debtors in the future.

The amendment to the Bankruptcy Code excluding disputed claims will affect more than just the scope of acceptable claims. Section 303(h) provides the standard to be applied in determining whether the Court should order relief against the debtor. Under the old Section 3030), relief was granted to creditors when the debtor was "generally not paying such debtor's debts as such debts became due." This code scction made no distinction as to disputed or undisputed dcbts. The amendments to Scction 303(h) have removed debts which are the subject of a bona fide dispute from the class of debts upon which a debtor must be making payment when due. Thus, under Section 303 as amended, debtors must only make payment on those dcbts with which thcy have no bona fide dispute in order to avoid involuntary bankruptcy.

One aspect of Section 303 that has not been changed and is of extreme importance to creditors is the provision of subpart (i) regarding relief granted to the debtor when a petition for involuntary bankruptcy is dismissed by the Court. lt is possible that the courts will have an opportunity to dismiss more petitions for involuntary bankruptcy than before when a debtor has a bona fide dispute as to the claim.

Section 303(i) provides that if the debtor does not waive the right to judgement, the court may grant judgement against the petitioners for court costs, reasonable attorney's fees or any damages proximately caused by the taking of possession of the debtor's property. Furthermore, where the court finds that a creditor has filed a petition in bad faith, the court may grant judgement against the creditor for any damages proximately caused by such filing or punitive damages.

Famous Sink Search Still On

A luxury yacht anchored near Galveston, T[., and the Ringling Brothers mansion, Sarasota, Fl., are among sites where unusual Elkay sinks have been located as part of a famous sink search celebrating the 65th anniversary of the company.

Elegance qualified the nautical sink, an Elkay Capacity Plus model. The sink at the Ringling mansion was made of German silver because "it would be kind to good china and fine crystal."

The international search will conclude in September with a celebration scheduled for Las Vegas, Nv., in Oct. Elkay has plants in Tennessee, North Carolina, Utah and Illinois.

More Retro Window Sales

Some of America's leading replacement window dealers and distributors predict greater industry sales and greater consumer quality preferences this year.

Ten of the largest NuPrime window dealers, who were polled at a dealer advisory council meeting in Jackson, Ms., agree that 1984's sales expansion of 20 to 5090 will carry over. Positive factors are the improving economy, greater consumer confidence and acceptance of thermally-insulated windows and storm windows as vital to energy conservation. Most dealers looked at ?.0 to 3090 sales increases for 1985.

Seminars Promote Wood Usage

Building material dealers throughout the country are being invited to sponsor Wood Products Promotion Council seminars designed to help remodeling contractors use more wood more profitably.

Aiming at increasing demand for lumber and other wood products, a six hour programis puton by aWPPC team. Dealers are asked to make arrangements, accept any local costs and guarantee a minimum attendance of 35 for a fee of $10 each.

Field representatives from the American Plywood Association, the Western Wood Products Association and the Southern Forest Products Association are cooperating in promoting the program as is the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association.