Kathy Cox Home Up For Auction

The Peachtree City home of state school superintendent Kathy Cox goes on the auction block July 7th. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports a legal notice of the auction was printed in the Fayette Daily News last week. It was last November that Cox and her developer husband filed for personal bankruptcy. They cited more than $3.5 million in liabilities, with less than $650,000 in assets. Mrs. Cox has no role in her husband’s business, but is a co-signer on loans for it.

Schools superintendent and husband file for bankruptcy

State schools superintendent Kathy Cox and her husband have filed for bankruptcy. Cox said she and her husband John decided last week to file because of losses they’ve taken in his home building business. Cox said those builders like her husband have been hit hard in the current economic climate, and that it was a gut-wrenching decision. Paperwork filed listed the couple with $3.5 million in liabilities, and nearly $650,000 in assets. This summer, Cox won $1 million on the game show ‘Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?’. She donated the winnings to three schools for the deaf and blind in Georgia.

Millionaire no more

A millionaire philanthropist from Augusta who once led the University System Board of Regents has filed for bankruptcy. Tim Shelnut Sr. raised money for politicians of both major parties and donated his own money to campaigns. His donations to Linda Schrenko's gubernatorial campaign violated legal caps. The state Ethics Committee fined him $40,000, a debt listed in his bankruptcy petition.

(Associated Press)

More layoffs in South Georgia

250 workers in Bainbridge will lose their jobs when American Fibers and Yards shutters a plant there. The company filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday and told employees about the layoffs yesterday. Company officials said the plant will cease operations on Oct. 15.

Pike's Nursery up for auction

A 50-year-old nursery chain that had to file for bankruptcy because of lost sales from the drought--goes up for auction today. Pike’s nurseries are well-known in the metro Atlanta area and have been around for 50 years. In November the company filed for Chapter 11 protection. The company had more than 750 employees at the time of filing. The retailer had 22 locations in Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina. It called itself the nation’s largest independently owned garden center.

Georgia bankruptcy filings spike 24% in 2007

Personal bankruptcy filings in Georgia jumped 24% last year. Fresh numbers from the National Bankruptcy Research Center show Georgia has the second-highest personal bankruptcy rate in the country.

The big percentage jump in filings is largely attributable to national economic factors--so says Jack Williams, a professor of law at Georgia State University and resident scholar at the American Bankruptcy Institute.

Williams says as it turns out, the factors that make Georgia attractive for residents can also support and influence a spike in bankruptcy filings.

"Certainly there’s a local Georgia flavor to the rate of filings and we tend to cluster in the top-10/top-5 of bankruptcy filings per household. That’s not something that we strive to do, but unfortunately we end up being in that area."

Many who flock to Georgia look to start their own business, but economic reality is many will fail. The state draws many boomers 55-and-older, but with rising medical costs, many ‘under’ or ‘non’-insured residents end-up filing for bankruptcy. And then Williams points out, there are Georgia’s foreclosure laws, which allow the process to move quickly--often spurring bankruptcy filings.

"There’s an argument that’s made that the rate of foreclosures here both in number and the time from default to the actual sale of the property...may influence the rate of bankruptcy filings. In many instances, bankruptcy is the only possible opportunity to keep one’s home, usually through a Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing."

But Williams says that while bankruptcy is a negative, the process is a necessary part of a robust, competitive market.

"There are going to be economic winners and losers. What bankruptcy does is provide a system by which we can take the economic losers and bring them back in the system again, so that they can try again and begin their economic life anew."

Williams says Georgia is among a handful of states in the Southeast and Sunbelt, experiencing a population increase recently, bringing with it bankruptcy growing pains.

Georgia bankruptcy rate second highest in nation

Georgia had the second-highest rate of personal bankruptcy in the nation for 2007--that's according to numbers from the National Bankruptcy Research Center. The report says last year Georgia's bankruptcy courts had one personal bankruptcy filing for every 65 households. The number of overall filings in the state last year increased 24-percent over 2006. Reasons given by experts for Georgia's high bankruptcy rankings in recent years--everything from creditor-friendly laws to until recently, a robust real estate market.

Improved returns for Delta muted by future conditions

Despite a loss of 70-million dollars in last year's 4th quarter, Delta Air Lines ended with a profit of 1.6 billion dollars in 2007. That represents a turnaround from a nearly 6-billion dollar loss for all of 2006.

The Atlanta-based airline came out of bankruptcy in April of last year, and has since restructured its operations to cut costs. But, Delta says record-high fuel prices are continuing to pressure its bottom line.

Propex Files Chapter 11

Propex carpet manufacturer, which employs almost two thousand Georgians, is filing for bankruptcy.

With the housing slump, and fall out from shaky sub prime mortgages, bankers will not offer refinancing for Propex.

Company Vice President, Matt Bridges said he expects Propex to come out of the bankruptcy intact.

“This chapter filing is not about head counts or plants closing or some of the things you read about in higly publicized Chapter 11 filings. It is all about our balance sheet. It is about creating a more healhty Propex with less debt on the balence sheet and in essence, becomming a stronger company,” said Bridger.

Bridger said all 1700 Georgia workers will keep their jobs.

“So many of our businesses are tied to the housing market and the residential construction business. However, we have some very unique and aggressive marketing strategies that will hopefully drive more volume into these plants.”

The company runs five plants in Georgia.

Delta's legal bills coming due

Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines racked up at least 168- million dollars in bills trying to get out of bankruptcy. That’s according to an Associated Press analysis. Over the past few weeks, federal bankruptcy court in New York has received 28 sets of papers seeking payment from Delta. The largest bill was for 40-point-six million by Davis Polk and Wardwell, the airline's chief bankruptcy firm. Delta emerged from 19-months of bankruptcy on April 30th.

Delta celebrates end to Chapter 11

The celebration at Delta Airlines in Atlanta was part Hollywood premier and part pep rally, as hundreds of Delta employees celebrated the carrier's emergence from nearly two years of Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Looking more like a movie star that the head of the nation's third largest airline, Delta CEO Jerry Grinstein was more than happy to share the spotlight with the crowd.

"You did it, this is your triumph!"

Grinstein told his employees that Delta emerges as a more formidable airline than before, ready to compete with low fair airlines, like Jet Blue and Air Trans.

"You've got a completely transformed company and you have ve four quarters of operating profit which hasn't happened since 2000, so this company is altogether different."

Later this week, 4-hundred million newly issued Delta shares begin trading on Wall Street.

At least 14-million of those shares will go to employees.

Analysts expect opening day prices to come in at around $20 a share.

Delta creditors give thumbs-up for new plan

An April 9th vote by Delta creditors shows more than 95 percent support the company's reorganization plan.

Creditors also voted in the same numbers to approve the reorganization plan of Delta's subsidiary, Comair.

The new plan calls for some of Delta's creditors to receive newly issued common stock.

Delta is the nation's third-largest airline.

The carrier filed for bankruptcy protection in the fall of 2005, citing soaring jet fuel prices and increased competition from low-fare airlines.

Delta says it expects a bankruptcy court to confirm its reorganization plan at a hearing later this month.

Delta pilots will cash in after bankruptcy

Many pilots for Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines are looking forward to some serious cash. More than 91% of eligible pilots plan to sell their portion of an unsecured bankruptcy claim Delta gave them as part of pay cut talks last year. That means the average cash payout will be $186,000 dollars. Delta is set to emerge from bankruptcy at the end of this month.

Delta plans for life after bankruptcy

With just a little over a month until it emerges from bankruptcy, investors can look forward to a leaner, more profitable Delta Airlines.

In a statement filed with the SEC, the company said it would rid itself of non-performing assets.

Addressing investors, Delta’s Chief Financial Officer Ed Bastian wouldn’t specify the assets to be shed, but said one top priority is to re-fleet its plane stock.

Post-bankruptcy plans for the nation’s third largest carrier, include expanded international service, improved baggage handling, and enhance customer.

Delta is set to emerge from bankruptcy on April 30.