Federal Judge Issues Default Judgment Against AAI

A federal judge has issued a default judgment against American Architecture Inc. (AAI) and ordered the seizure and sale of remaining company properties to help pay off the bankrupt company’s debts.

Judge Kenneth M. Karas of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued the decree against AAI and Metalteck Inc. last week in the hopes of recovering the more than $11,000 the two companies owe workers in the form of benefits to eligible employees, retirees and their dependents. Aware of AAI’s earlier Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition, the Trustees of the District Council 9 Painting Industry Insurance and Annuity Funds filed suit on their behalf in June 2012.

Karas’s action from the bench was a result of both the Bensalem, Pa.-based AAI and Metalteck failing in “having appeared, answered or otherwise moved with respect to the complaint within the time allowed by law,” according to documents filed with the court.

Dana L. Henke, the Elmsford, N.Y.-based attorney representing the Trustees of the District Council 9 Painting Industry Insurance and Annuity Funds, did not immediately return a call seeking comment on Friday morning.

Efforts to reach officials at AAI were also unsuccessful.

AAI filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, listing its 20 largest unsecured claims totaling approximately $3.9 million, according to court records.

The company listed between 200 and 999 creditors, with estimated assets between $10 million and 50 million, and liabilities between $10 million and $50 million in its voluntary petition for bankruptcy signed by company president John Melching.

Several glass industry suppliers were among the company’s largest 20 creditors, court records show. They included TAD Metals Inc. ($692,510.73);  Major Tool and Machine in Indianapolis ($659,337.39); SAFTI First, of San Francisco ($236,598.335);  Sentech Architectural Systems LLC in Austin, Texas, ($183,351);  Pedricktown, N.J.-based JE Berkowitz LP ($117,106.88); OldcastleBuilding Envelope’s Hauppauge, N.Y.-based office ($97,764.53); Beloit, Wis.-based American Aluminum Extrusion Co. LLC ($64,100.28); GMS in New York ($57,425.75); and Ellison Bronze Inc. of Falconer, N.Y. ($54,418.90).