Partial Settlement Reached in Dlubak Bankruptcy Case

At least one stage of the proceedings related to the Dlubak bankruptcy case may be finally coming to a close.

On July 2, the committee of unsecured creditors of Dlubak Corp. filed a motion to approve a settlement it reached with Dlubak Glass Co., stemming from a lawsuit the committee filed in April 2014 in the Western District of Pennsylvania. The sides met in mediation at the end of June, according to the motion.

The committee, last year, filed a complaint “to avoid and recover fraudulent and unauthorized payments made to Dlubak Glass Co. for the benefit of Frank C. and Ave Maria Dlubak (the Dlubaks),” according to court documents. The committee’s plan administrator, Lawrence C. Bolla, also named the Dlubaks as a defendant in a related complaint and has been in litigation with the parties since. Both defendants denied improper transfer allegations in separate answers.

The three parties participated in mediation with Bolla on June 30, where Bolla and Dlubak Corp. agreed to a separate settlement of the adversary proceeding from the Dlubaks’ settlement of all other pending adversary proceedings in the case.

According to the terms of the agreement, Dlubak Glass Co. agreed to pay $12,000 to the committee, which will be required within five days after the court approves the settlement. The agreement only involves Dlubak Glass Co. and not the Dlubaks.

“Defendants Frank C. and Ave Maria Dlubak implied consent to this settlement by virtue of their global settlement with the Plan Administrator, which will be handled by separate motion,” the motion for approval reads.

“The Plan Administrator submits that approval of the proposed settlement is in the best interests of the creditors and the estate,” the motion reads, “because the probability of recovering more than the settlement payment through continued litigation is uncertain given the defenses asserted by [Dlubak Glass Co.] as well as the time and cost necessarily associated with ongoing litigation.”

Dlubak Corp. originally filed for bankruptcy in August of 2013.

Dlubak Specialty Glass, which is owned by Consolidated Glass Holdings, is a separate company and not a part of the bankruptcy proceedings or litigation.