Bankruptcy judge converts Loveland Shooting Club bankruptcy to Chapter 7, business closes – Loveland Reporter-Herald

On February 1, a U.S. bankruptcy judge converted the Front Range Gun Club’s bankruptcy case from Chapter 11 reorganization to Chapter 7 liquidation, and as a result, the gun club at 697 N. Denver Ave. Suite 128 in Loveland has closed.

A notice on the company’s website says the business is “closed pursuant to a court order”.

The Front Range Gun Club, which is a trading name for Gunsmoke LLC, and the owner of the property, Happy Beavers LLC, have been in the throes of bankruptcy since May 2020, when they received a foreclosure notice and filed Chapter 11. bankruptcy in July of that year.

Bankruptcy is actually in two parts, one involving the real estate and the other involving the operating business, all involving the same creditors.

Each of the cases resulted in more than 300 bankruptcy court filings, as well as an unrelated lawsuit in which the shooting club filed a lawsuit against its former owners – Angry Beavers LLC, Edward J. Klen and Stephen J. Klen, also creditors in the bankruptcy – in September 2020. The lawsuit, as yet unresolved, alleged fraud, negligent representation, misrepresentation, non-disclosure or concealment and other allegations against the former owners of the shooting club when the new owners bought the business and the property.

Bankruptcy Judge Joseph G. Rosania Jr. wrote in his court order that United States Trustee Attorney Alison Goldenberg “said she had rarely seen a case accompanied by so much acrimony. between the parties”.

During the bankruptcy proceedings, numerous motions for extensions of time were filed to allow negotiations between the parties or to allow debtors to file amended plans of reorganization.

The judge acknowledged that “members of the debtor (Richard Weingarten and Chee Wei Fong) admit that they no longer wish to operate the business…” He added that “the court has lost confidence in the debtor’s ability to reorganize”.

Since the operating business Front Range Gun Club was losing money, according to profit and loss statements, and creditor Great Western Bank noted that there was “no equity in the ownership of the estate beyond its secured claim,” the bankruptcy court determined that moving to Chapter 7 would be in the best interests of the parties.

A meeting of creditors is scheduled for March 3.

A message left with gun club owner Weingarten requesting information about personal property club members have at the facility was not returned.

The cases in the United States Bankruptcy Court are In re: Gunsmoke LLC, case number 20-14962, and In re: Happy Beavers LLC, case number 20-14853.

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