A nearly $700,000 judgment against a coffeehouse owner has spilled into bankruptcy court.
Tom Kennedy of Rogers filed for Chapter 7 liquidation in July and listed $1.28 million in debts and $1.27 million in assets. Kennedy owns several coffee-related companies, including Kennedy Coffee Retail LLC and Kennedy Coffee Roasting Co.
The $700,000 judgment dates back to 2016, when Espresso LLC of Washington County, which operates as Bolder Coffee, bought shares of Kennedy Coffee Roasting and Kennedy Coffee Retail.
After the stock purchase, Espresso said it discovered that Kennedy’s coffee companies had debts that weren’t disclosed and a third party held a security interest on the shares, according to the court records filed in Washington County Circuit Court. Espresso paid a total of $472,500 for the shares and then put in another $176,000 in the companies.
In August 2017, Espresso sued Kennedy in Washington County Circuit Court to rescind the stock sale and get the $176,000 back.
Washington County Circuit Judge Doug Martin agreed with Espresso. He ruled in May that at the time Kennedy sold the shares of his companies, he “knew his representations and warranties to [Espresso] … were false.”
Martin also awarded Espresso $37,400 for attorneys’ fees. Espresso was represented by attorneys Jason Wales of Wales Comstock of Fayetteville and Kael Bowling of Friday Eldredge & Clark’s Fayetteville office.
Earlier this month, Espresso filed a lawsuit in Kennedy’s bankruptcy case saying that the $700,000 shouldn’t be discharged because of Kennedy’s alleged false representations and statements.
Kennedy’s attorney, Jennifer Lueker DuCharme of Steven Kay & Associates of Fayetteville, hasn’t filed a response in the lawsuit. She was unavailable for comment Thursday.
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