When the system doesn’t work... or, how a bank’s negligence upended my dad’s life this week

This is my dad... he wouldn't look good in jailhouse orange...

My dad’s a great guy. He loves Jesus. He loves and provides for his family. He works hard. He enjoys life... which is tough in the fall, being a Lions fan and all. He’s one of my favorite people.

Right now, he’s in some trouble because a bank left him holding the bag after a bankruptcy, but didn’t bother to tell him he had it. Now he’s in trouble with the Environmental Protection Agency. He’s looking at potential huge fines, up to five years in jail and enormous legal fees regardless. The purpose of this site is to hopefully help alleviate some of those legal fees.

The thought of my dad locked up in jail for something like this, the thought of introducing him to his grandchild in the visitor area of a jail makes me want to cry and scream and kick things. A government entity with unlimited resources against one guy struggling to get by. As frustrated and helpless as I feel... I can't begin to fathom the fear he has right now. I hope and pray this site can help a little.

Let me tell you the story...

My dad has had his own business since as long as I can remember. He does metal finishing: polishing, buffing, chrome plating, etc. About five years ago he and his business partner parted ways under less than ideal circumstances. Dad had to buy out the other guy. With the large debt that required, and diminished labor pool that resulted, dad wasn’t able to keep the business afloat.

A little while later, dad filed for bankruptcy. He wasn’t happy about it. The bank got the building and all of the machinery he’d worked years to acquire. He was told he wasn’t allowed in the building. He, obviously couldn’t have any of the assets left in the building.

But plating requires some pretty hazardous chemicals. By law (and they’re good laws, I think) those chemicals needed to be disposed of in a specific manner. Dad didn’t have the money (several thousand dollars) to dispose of them when he turned everything over to the bank (one little side note here: to dad, the chemicals were useful and profitable, not just hazardous waste, but to anyone not doing chrome plating, they were just barrels of hazardous waste). He told the bank about the chemicals and even went as far as draining the chemicals from his tanks into standard barrels so the bank could have them disposed of.

The bank sold all of the equipment in the shop and put the building on the market. But they never did anything about the chemicals.

A while after the bankruptcy, dad picked himself up, dusted himself off and got back to work doing the only thing he knows how to do. It was a new company with a new name, but it was basically the same business. It was on a smaller scale, but work was coming in. He knew the bank had those chemicals in his old shop, so he called them up and asked if he could have them (to my dad, the chemicals were valuable, but to the bank, they were merely hazardous waste and an expensive liability). The bank offered to sell him the chemicals but he couldn’t afford to pay for them if he wanted to.

Dad got the chemicals from someone else for free.

Things were going well at work. He was consistently bringing in enough money to pay all of the bills and stash a little into savings. He was planning to forgo Christmas presents this year to come visit Washington in February to meet his new grandchild who’s due to be born at the end of January. He was planning to buy his wife a new (used) car because there’s a hole in the floor boards of her current car.

This week some agents with the EPA showed up at his shop. They said it was about his old shop. He said (and I’m paraphrasing a three-hour conversation here), “Oh, I don’t own that anymore. I forfeited it to the bank when the old business went bankrupt.”
“Well, the bank still shows you as the owner of the building,” they said. “And that means you’re responsible for the chemicals that have been illegally stored in the building for the past four years.”
“What does all of that mean?” he asked.
“Fines and up to five years in jail,” they said.

The bank took control of that building and everything in it. They sold what was worth money. For whatever reason, they left the building in my dad’s name and didn’t feel it prudent to share that information with him. Then, to top things off, when he asked to have the chemicals back, they tried to sell him the chemicals, that, according to them, he owned.

He wasn’t trying to shirk his responsibility in not disposing of the chemicals, he just couldn't afford it. That’s why he was filing bankruptcy. But a year later (after the bank has been illegally storing the chemicals for months) when he tried to take them off the bank’s hands, alleviating them of the disposal costs, the bank got greedy.

Bankruptcy sucks. I realize that the bank took an overall loss for their investment in my dad’s building. But last week, his life was turned upside down, along with everyone who cares about him. The bank didn’t do what it was supposed to do. It simultaneously denied responsibility for the chemicals, while also trying to profit from them. They tried to sell stuff to the guy they claim owns it.

They knew the building had hazardous materials inside. They knew the building was in his name. They didn’t tell him.

Now he’s in trouble. And he can’t afford it. A decent lawyer can hopefully keep him out of jail, but he’s going to have to deplete his savings and investments and sell about everything he owns of any real value to even begin to pay the lawyer fees. The EPA has been building the case for a while... and for whatever reason they're out for blood, so this isn't just going away.

Fortunately, this isn't affecting his current business.

I hate to ask for stuff like this, and he does too. But if you have a few dollars to spare and want to donate it to helping him out, I would greatly appreciate it. And if you don’t have the money, or don’t want to donate, your prayers are appreciated even more.

Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

To donate through paypal, click the link at the top right. You can give via credit or debit card.

Thanks.