Dear Wine Owners,

The wine care litigation blog has received more than 2,500 hits.  I have received numerous responses from affected wine owners who would like to join the litigation.  However, not one person has volunteered to contribute a red cent to the litigation effort.

Unless I receive a number of responses from owners by a week from today, I am going to cease my efforts at joint litigation and pursue my own course of action.

Regards,

Alan

Hi Wine Owners,

The latest note from Derek Linbacher is a crock of bs.

I for one am tired of his silly and whining statements.

My suggestion is that the readers of this blog and Winebeserkers should get together and sue the crap out of Linbacher for fraud which is not dischargeable in bankruptcy.

1.  Until such time as Linbacher permits an inspection by an independent group, all of his statements are just hot air;

2.  His statement that only 5% of the cases are missing labels is not subject to independent verification and as such is just hot air;

3.  Where is the insurance policy or policies covering our wine?  Make a copy of the policy or policies available to an independent group - this blog or Winebeserkers.

Again, any of you who are interested, I strongly recommend that we hire independent counsel and go after Linbacher in the bankruptcy case.  Until such time as we go after him, he is just going to put more hot air out there.

Regards,

Alan

A telling story:

A wine merchant that I know was invited by Derek Linbacher to tour the facility.  This wine merchant has no wine stored at Wine Care Storage.  In fact, the wine merchant said that based on this invitation, one should give Wine Care Storeage the benefit of the doubt.

He showed up at the appointed hour for a tour.  He was asked to sign a confidentiality document by a lawyer who was outside the door.  The agreement would have prevented the wine merchant from disclosing any information about the tour or what he saw to any other party.

What was the point in inviting the wine merchant for a tour?

It would appear that Mr. Linbacher is engaged in an elaborate game of hide and seek.  He should remember that the Bankruptcy Court is a court of equity.  While the debtor is given great latitude, the debtor is supposed to be forthcoming.  The time is running out for Mr. Linbacher.

At this juncture, one can now see the glass as half empty or perhaps empty.

I listened to part of the discussion by Samantha Carrington the other day.  I was unconvinced and found it to be part of the ruse that Wine Care Storage (WCS) is perpetrating:

1.  We should be hearing from Derek Linbacher and not some person who does not have an official affiliation with the firm as per their website;

2.  If WCS has nothing to hide, I would propose they take the following actions:

a.  Permit a designated number of WCS customers to inspect the facility.  I for one do not believe that our wine is being stored at proper temperatures or that there was minimal damage;

b.  Provide copies of all insurance policies. This could be given to designated representatives of WCS customers.  I for one do not believe that WCS maintained the required insurance; and

c.  Submit to deposition as required by the Judge in the Phillip Waterman pre-trial discovery action.

The failure of WCS to take the above actions is indicative of the fraud that is being perpetrated on WCS customers.  It was a cowardly act of Derek Linbacher to file in bankruptcy to avert his obligations - an inspection of the facility and our wines, furnishing copies of the insurance policy and personal deposition.  While Ms. Carrington is attempting to elicit sympathy for WCS, we should hold them in contempt for their brazen failure to come clean with the true state of facts

The proposed conference call from Samantha Carrington of Wine Care raises a number of questions.

First, who is Ms. Carrington?  She appears no where in the Wine Care materials that are on line.

Of greater significance is that the conference call may well be nothing more than a ploy to deflect focus on the bad conduct of Wine Care and its principals.

If Wine Care were serious about addressing the issues, they would take the following actions:

a.  Permit a committee of storage customers to inspect the premises;

b.  Provide copies of all applicable insurance policies; and

c.  Have Linbacher submit to depositions by an attorney of the committees choosing.  It is patently absurd to rely on their facile statements.  We need statements under oath.

Finally, I would propose that in lieu of sending payments to Wine Care we put the money in an attorney's escrow account.

WineCare Storage LLC has filed in Chapter 11 under the Bankruptcy Code.  The Case No. is 13-10268 and before Judge Robert Gerber.

My wife who is a litigator (but not a bankruptcy lawyer) will put in a Notice of Appearance so that we get all documents in the Case.

I have started the process of speaking with bankruptcy counsel for representation in the Wine Care Storage mess.  In a couple of days, I will have some names to propose.

I believe that we will have the most leverage in the committee for unsecured creditors if we are as large a group as possible.  One thought is that we might have a voluntary assessment based on the number of cases in storage:

       1- 25 cases                $750

       26-50 cases             $1,000

       51-75 cases             $1,250

       76-100 cases           $1,500

        101+ cases             $1,500

The goal would be to have at least 25 members in the group and to collect $25,000.  We would ask one person to act as the Treasurer and another as the Secretary in addition to myself.

A number of Wine Care Storage customers have written to me saying that they would like to be included in the litigation.  Now that Wine Care Storage has filed in Chapter 11, it would be prudent for our group to do a number of things:

1.  I will with your backing seek representation on the unsecured creditors committee; and

2.  If I am on the committee, I will seek to have bankruptcy counsel retained to represent our collective interests.  It may even be that the costs of such representation will be paid by the estate of the debtor.

In order to effect the foregoing, I need you to write me at this blog and express your approval of my being on the committee.  The selection for the committee is a matter of discretion for the Bankruptcy Trustee.

In advance, I thank you for your support.

Respectfully,

Alan Ballinger