Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Proof of Claim Bar Date in the SSH Bankruptcy Case is July 21, 2008

The Bar Date in the Silver State Helicopters Bankruptcy Case, also known as the last day to file a proof of claim, is July 21, 2008. This Bar Date has been extended twice by the Bankruptcy Court. The original bar date was in June, and the first extended bar date was July 7, 2008. No further extension of time to file a proof of claim in this case is likely. As set forth in the document entitled "Trustee's Notice of Finding Assets, Notice to File Proof of Claim and Notice of Time Limitation" e-filed on April 16, 2008, "Claims not filed by the Bar Date are generally not allowed . . . The Bar Date, or last date to file a Proof of Claim in this case is July 21, 2008."

We have completed our filing of Proofs of Claim for each and every one of the 1,367 former SSH Students that we represent. We have sent individual confirmations to many of these clients at their request. On July 7, 2008 I will send out an e-mail to each and every one of our SSH clients confirming that we have in fact filed his or her proof of claim in this case.

We have double checked each and every proof of claim that we filed to be sure that it shows up in the Claims Register for the Silver State Helicopters, LLC Bankruptcy Case No. 08-10936 MKN on PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records). Individual Clients who want to use PACER to check to be sure that his or her proof of claim has been filed or to monitor all documents filed in the Silver State Helicopters, LLC Bankruptcy case (or for any purpose) may register by going to http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/ and then clicking on the "Register for Pacer" link on the left hand side of the page. There is a charge of $.08/page to use Pacer.

We filed a proof of claim for each individual student client that attended SSH, not for his or her cosigner. Filing 2 separate claims, one for the individual and one for the cosigner, would be asking for a double recovery.

We believe that part of each student's claim qualifies as a priority claim under 11 U.S.C. Section 507(a) (7). This code section allows a priority claim of up to $2,425.00 for, amongst other things, deposits toward "the purchase of services, for the personal, family or household use of such individuals, that were not delivered or provided." We believe that the the helicopter training services that our clients purchased from SSH but did not receive fit this definition. By making part of our clients' claims priority claims, we increase the likelihood that they will receive a recovery from the SSH bankruptcy estate and increase the likelihood that they will receive a greater recovery than creditors with lower priorities or no priority. Priority claims get paid before general unsecured claims.

When available, we have attached the SSH Training Services Agreement and the Student Loan Agreement to each individual Proof of Claim.

If you are our client in the SSH case, the preparation and filing of your Proof of Claim is just one of the services that we provide for you. If you are a former SSH student and you are not our client, we urge you to file your Proof of Claim before the July 21 Bar Date.