Kailua
businessman adds
personal bankruptcy
to his woes

His personal bankruptcy follows a
Chapter 11 business backruptcy filed by
his company, Capital Resources
International Ltd.

By Peter Wagner
Star-Bulletin

Kailua businessman Norman F. Frank, whose company Capital Resources International is in bankruptcy at Kailua Town Center, has filed for personal bankruptcy under Chapter 13 of the federal bankruptcy code.

The April 15 filing came on the day Frank was to buy the Maunawili house he occupies, under a recent court-stipulated agreement in a lawsuit brought against Frank by his landlord last year.

The 63-year-old Maunawili resident could not be reached for comment.

Under the agreement, Frank was to buy the property, at 1333 Lopaka Place, for $450,000 by April 15 or vacate. The owner, Hawaii Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, for years has been trying to evict Frank for nonpayment of a monthly $2,000 rent. The church's suit says Frank has paid little in rent since moving into the property in 1987 and none since September of 1997.

Unlike a Chapter 7 bankruptcy -- the overwhelming majority of personal bankruptcies in Hawaii -- Chapter 13 allows a debtor to keep personal property on the assumption debts will be repaid over time.

Frank's preliminary filing last week estimates his assets at less than $50,000 with debts at $500,000 to $1 million. The document lists one creditor, Henry H. Wong of Kaneohe.

According to court records, Wong evicted Frank 10 years ago from another Maunawili residence for nonpayment of rent and other debts.

According to his attorneys, Wong has been unable to collect a $195,572 civil judgement won against Frank in 1991, following his eviction at 947 Lunaawa Place.

Frank's personal bankruptcy follows a Chapter 11 business bankruptcy filed Jan. 11 by his company Capital Resources International Ltd., currently operating at Kailua Town Center. Both bankruptcies put off impending evictions.

Capital Resources says it has contracts to clean up oil in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan.

The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Jan. 11, the day $180,000 in back rent was due at Kailua Town Center. According to the landlord, Pacific Union Association of Seventh-Day Adventists, Capital Resources paid no rent or property taxes between June 1998 and March. The company recently made $60,000 in payments toward $80,000 in rents due since the bankruptcy filing.

Warding off eviction efforts by the church last year, Capital Resources agreed to make good on its debts by Jan. 11. The church then turned to the bankruptcy court, seeking to lift its protection to allow eviction of Capital Resources and other companies Frank operates at the nearly vacant Kailua Town Center commercial complex.

The bankruptcy court postponed a decision on the request when an attorney for Capital Resources made a $40,000 partial payment in court.

The church has since agreed to give Capital Resources another deadline to meet its lease obligations, now totaling about $460,000. In a stipulation this month, Capital Resources agreed to vacate Kailua Town Center if payment isn't received next month.