Claim filed for Pace employees

N.C. Labor will try to tally pay due in bankruptcy court

By: Richard Craver | JOURNAL REPORTER
Published: March 06, 2010

The N.C. Labor Department said yesterday that it is filing a proof of claim regarding wages for all former employees of bankrupt Pace Airlines Inc.

Dolores Quesenberry, a spokeswoman for the department, said that its Legal Affairs division has talked with Edwin Allman III, the bankruptcy trustee handing the involuntary Chapter 7 case.

Quesenberry declined to elaborate on how the department would determine the amount of wages owed for each employee, or whether the claim would include vacation pay and other benefits.

Allman told employees after Wednesday's court hearing that the U.S. and N.C. labor departments may be considering filing a claim representing all employees. Officials with the U.S. Labor Department could not be reached for comment.

Also yesterday, the bankruptcy-court judge approved Allman's request to hire the accounting firm of Dixon Hughes PLLC to assist him in handling the Pace case.

The firm will serve as the trustee's certified public accountant, tax consultant and digital forensics specialists. Vernon Osborne has been named to oversee the accounting elements of the case and Susan McMinn to handle the digital forensics.

The firm will be paid according to fee guidelines applicable to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. Osborne will be paid $290 an hour, and McMinn will be paid $300 an hour. Other firm personnel will be paid between $150 and $300 an hour as needed.

Allman said Wednesday that he has determined that there are two owners of the holding companies for Pace. What that means legally remains unclear.

Allman said he based his assessment on documents signed by Lee Booth and William Rodgers Sr. on Sept. 4 -- 13 days before Pace was shut down.

Rodgers took over the company last May based on a promissory note to pay $9 million for stock in Pace Airlines LLC and Pace Airlines II LLC and take over $6 million in liabilities.

Less than four months later, Pace was out of business, costing 420 employees their jobs, including 300 locally, and up to six weeks of unpaid wages.

Allman said he has determined that Rodgers and Darrell Richardson, who served as Pace's president, are the proper officers to deal with bankruptcy schedules and statements prepared by Allman. He gave Rodgers and Richardson 15 days to respond.

rcraver@wsjournal.com | 727-7376