{"id":577,"date":"2012-05-28T18:58:18","date_gmt":"2012-05-28T18:58:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.westcoastbk.com\/blog\/?p=577"},"modified":"2012-09-12T06:20:02","modified_gmt":"2012-09-12T06:20:02","slug":"add-jamal-lafitte-lewis-to-the-list-of-pro-athlete-and-celebrity-bankruptcy-filings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westcoastbk.com\/blog\/2012\/05\/add-jamal-lafitte-lewis-to-the-list-of-pro-athlete-and-celebrity-bankruptcy-filings\/","title":{"rendered":"Add Jamal Lafitte Lewis to the List of Pro Athlete and Celebrity Bankruptcy Filings"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ryan C. Wood<\/a><\/p>\n

On April 3, 2012, former professional football player Jamal Lafitte Lewis filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Northern District of Georgia, Bankruptcy Case No. 12-58938.\u00a0 Jamal Lewis played for the Baltimore Ravens for years and retired from the NFL in 2009.\u00a0 While Mr. Lewis has sought protection from his creditors by filing bankruptcy, Chapter 11 is a reorganization of his debts and not necessarily a discharge of debts.\u00a0 Most likely some of Mr. Lewis\u2019 unsecured debt will be discharged though.\u00a0 Time will tell if Mr. Lewis actually files a disclosure statement and plan.<\/p>\n

Despite having retired from the national football league Mr. Lewis has listed his monthly income as $35,000 a month.\u00a0 This is impressive given the number of years Mr. Lewis has not played football.\u00a0 It would appear from the bankruptcy schedules and statements that Mr. Lewis is facing a number of issues in his business life.\u00a0 In November 2011 $95,000 was seized from the bank accounts of one of his companies, JLew Enterprises, LLC, a company set up for Mr. Lewis\u2019 speaking and appearance engagements.\u00a0 If $95,000 was seized from JLew Enterprises, LLC, the company was most likely sued and a judgment was obtained, or a creditor obtained a prejudgment writ of attachment to seize the funds.\u00a0 Seizing funds prior to obtaining a judgment is an extraordinary remedy and does not bode well for JLew Enterprises, LLC.<\/p>\n

Mr. Lewis\u2019 schedules and statements also list a theft of $3,000,000 from Mr. Lewis\u2019 trucking company named All American Xpress, Inc. between 2006 \u2013 Present.\u00a0 It would appear that Mr. Lewis\u2019 has been a victim of embezzlement or some other sort of theft related to his trucking company.\u00a0 One of the most overlooked reasons why someone chooses to file for bankruptcy protection is when they are victimized by others.<\/p>\n

Unlike many of the celebrity and pro-athlete bankruptcy filings Mr. Lewis\u2019 has significant personal assets.\u00a0 Schedule B lists approximately $12 million in assets including 47 foot powerboat, 2005 F-650 XUV trust, 2008 Mercedes GL 550, 2009 Mercedes CL 63, a $250,000 judgment against Bradley Lowery, Jr.\u00a0 Some of these assets have loans and liens secured against the assets.<\/p>\n

The judgment against Bradley Lowery, Jr. resulted from another unfortunate business dealing.\u00a0 According to court documents, Bankruptcy Case No. 09-06771, Mr. Lewis entered into a contract with Mr. Lowery to build a home at 568 Trabert Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia.\u00a0 Mr. Lowery received approximately $680,000 of the $2.4 million Mr. Lewis borrowed to build the home.\u00a0 Mr. Lewis then sued Lowery in Superior Court. The Superior Court Order and subsequent judgment awarded Lewis $1,314,694 in actual damages, $304,000 in consequential damages, $4,010 in attorney\u2019s fees and $250,000 in punitive damages. Lowery then filed for bankruptcy protection himself in October 2009.\u00a0 Mr. Lewis and his bankruptcy attorney<\/a> then sued Mr. Lowery seeking a determination that his state court judgment against Mr. Lowery not be discharged in the bankruptcy.\u00a0 Mr. Lewis was successful, but just because you have the right to collect does not mean you are going to collect.\u00a0 Mr. Lewis\u2019 schedules list that the judgment against Mr. Lowery is uncollectable.\u00a0 So now after all the legal wrangling Mr. Lewis is left holding a loan of over $2 million and a partially built house worth $500,000.<\/p>\n

Another interesting note in the bankruptcy case is the listing of a claim against the Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns and the NFL for worker’s compensation and personal injury.\u00a0 It is unclear if Mr. Lewis have filed hit own lawsuits or is part of the class action lawsuits we have all heard about regarding concussions.<\/p>\n

I tell clients every day that there are a millions reasons why people file bankruptcy.\u00a0 It would appear that between Mr. Lewis\u2019 unfortunate experience trying to build a home and the alleged theft of $3,000,000 from his trucking company were too much.\u00a0 Currently there is a motion to dismiss Mr. Lewis\u2019 bankruptcy case.\u00a0 Hopefully Mr. Lewis and his bankruptcy attorney<\/a> will do what is necessary for the case to continue and Mr. Lewis can move on to happier things.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On April 3, 2012, former professional football player Jamal Lafitte Lewis filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the Northern District of Georgia, Bankruptcy Case No. 12-58938. Jamal Lewis retired from the NFL in 2009. While Mr. Lewis has sought protection from his creditors by filing bankruptcy, Chapter 11 is a reorganization of his debts and not necessarily a discharge of debts. Most likely some of Mr. Lewis\u2019 unsecured debt will be discharged though. Time will tell if Mr. Lewis actually files a disclosure statement and plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[44],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westcoastbk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westcoastbk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westcoastbk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westcoastbk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westcoastbk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.westcoastbk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":695,"href":"https:\/\/www.westcoastbk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577\/revisions\/695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westcoastbk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westcoastbk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westcoastbk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}