I'm needing the advice of a lawyer or contact information for a good biz lawyer in the SoCal area. Here's the skinny:

A friend of mine worked at a small pizzaria. She was the acting manager under the owner. About two weeks ago the business got hit with a lawsuit for hiring an illegal immigrant and not paying them overtime. The owner got fined, yadda yadda, labor board froze the business's accounts. This week the place was to be closed so it could be fumigated. A relative of the owner let it slip that the owner had sold the biz 3 months, they are not re-opening, and the owner and her husband moved to Arizona over this 5-day period.

My friend arrives today (as opening manager), finds out the owner is in fact gone, the larger company that owns the pizzaria filed for Ch. 11 Bankruptcy and will not be paying all the employees who are owed over a month's pay (the labor board froze the biz's account). I think right now they're looking at a class-action suit (all the employees) filing against the owner instead of the business itself. The woman who was working under the guise as the owner also stocked up on tons of food product that she sent to another biz. in Florida (which those supplies weren't paid for since they filed). All in all it sounds pretty shady to me.

So... yeah, that's where she stands. I want to do everything within my power to help her out, so far my advices has been to persue the "owner" as everything happened under her discretion. I don't know if that will work. Trying to sue the company for damages will award nothing since it's bankrupt. That's about the extent of my knowledge. Please anyone if you can offer advice and/or a biz lawyer to get in contact with, it is very much appreciated.

~B

I'm not a lawyer, but I've filed a claim with the CA Labor Board. If there are assets in CA, employees have first claim, IIRC. Maybe the tax guys come first, but I think not. Before going to court, I'd sure contact the labor board. Since they're unemployed, perhaps they should stop by in person. In my case, there were no CA assets, and the owner moved to Colorado Springs, where he currently operates a Porsche/German car service business. I was SOL for that claim, but I got him for a few hundred in Small Claims court on another matter.

BTW, I'm not clear whether the place was a franchise or a branch of a bigger company. If the latter, they could go after the parent firm. Also, the IRS needs to know about this, because the employer probably didn't withold payroll taxes, and they don't care where the guy moved to, he still owes them the money. Make the guy's life miserable! The Cap'n