Premier Cru files Chapter 7 bankruptcy with $70.29 million in debt

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, Jan. 12 – Fox Ortega Enterprises, Inc., which does business as Premier Cru, made a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing Jan. 8 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California.

According to court documents, Premier Cru has $7 million in total assets and $70.29 million in total debt.

On Monday, wine buyer Thomas S. Boothe sued Fox Ortega and John E. Fox through a breach of contract and fraud lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Boothe claims $161,896 in wine purchased from the company was never delivered.

The plaintiff also claimed that the company knew or should have known that “it had not already purchased or made arrangements for the wines it offered as presales or futures and would therefore be unable to deliver the wines it sold.”

In addition, Premier Cru listed 11 collection lawsuits filed against it in the year before the bankruptcy filing in courts in California and St. Louis. All of those cases are currently pending, according to a statement of financial affairs filed with the bankruptcy court.

The company is represented by Law Offices of Stephen D. Finestone.

Premier Cru is a Berkeley, Calif., wine store. The Chapter 7 case number is 16-40050.

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