HOA files adversarial case in bankruptcy action, seeks late claim filing

FORT COLLINS — A homeowners association seeking damages against a property-management company has now filed an adversarial claim in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The claim says that fraud should preclude the discharge of a debt owed to the association.

The same association also filed a claim today asking the bankruptcy judge to permit a late filing of a claim against the bankrupt parties — an amount set at $1.2 million.

As reported this week, Carlson Farms Homeowners Association in Johnstown filed a lawsuit Feb. 17 against NoCo Real Estate Solutions Inc. and one of its owners, Sandra Oldenburg, over what it claimed was missing money from its accounts, inadequate bookkeeping and other allegations. Carlson Farms recently added NoCo’s other owner, John Bickerton, to the lawsuit.

On Aug. 28, Oldenburg and her husband, Lee, filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection, then revised the bankruptcy filing Nov. 7.

Both the Chapter 13 trustee and Carlson Farms filed objections, with Carlson claiming that the bankruptcy was not filed in good faith and was meant to “frustrate the association’s ability to prosecute its case in the state courts.”

In its adversarial filing Tuesday, the homeowners group asked the bankruptcy court to declare that the debt owed to it was nondischargeable because of fraud and theft.

In reviewing the case for the bankruptcy judge, Carlson said “Bank account records and other information Carlson Farms has obtained so far show that Ms. Oldenburg and her father took approximately $400,000 from Carlson Farms’ accounts, paid it to PPS (Poudre Property Services, a trade name for NoCo Real Estate Solutions), and then converted it to personal use.”

In addition to the declaration of nondischargeability, the association also asked the court to order damages, attorney fees, costs and treble damages.

Today, Carlson Farms asked the bankruptcy judge to permit it to file a late claim against the Oldenburgs. As it recounted the situation, Carlson said that the Oldenburgs originally listed $100,000 owed to the homeowners association as a “disputed general unsecured claim.” The original reorganization plan proposed paying nothing to Class IV unsecured creditors. 

“There was no need to file a proof of claim as it would have resulted in no distribution,” the association’s attorney wrote.

However, the amended reorganization plan, filed Nov. 9 — after the claims deadline — changed the amount payable to Class IV creditors from $0 to $79,887. The association asked the judge to permit the late filing of a claim because “the association should be afforded the right to participate in the distribution to general unsecured creditors to recoup some of its losses.” 

Those losses, the association said, now total $1.2 million, a number not found in other filings but it does represent triple the amount the association alleged was taken from its bank accounts.

The association asked the judge to set a Dec. 13 date for objections to the late filing request.

The Carlson Farms action is one of two filed by homeowners associations in Larimer County District Court.

Neither Oldenburg nor Bickerton returned BizWest’s attempts to contact them.

The cases are:

Carlson Farms Homeowners Association vs. NoCo Real Estate Solutions Inc. and Sandra Oldenburg, case number 2023cv30125 filed Feb. 17, 2023, in Larimer County District Court.

River West P.U.D. Community Association vs. NoCo Real Estate Solutions Inc., case number 2023cv30305, filed April 21, 2023, in Larimer County District Court.

Sandra Oldenburg and Lee Oldenburg, Chapter 13 bankruptcy, case number 2023-13858, filed Aug. 28, 2023, in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado.

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