VAN MAR INC. MAY COLLECT BOXER FUNDS
Byline: Vicki M. Young
NEW YORK — A California state court in San Francisco last week entered an order giving a former Joe Boxer licensee the right to receive money owed to the intimate apparel manufacturer.
As reported, Van Mar Inc. is trying to enforce and collect on a court judgment validating an arbitration award of $3.1 million in its favor. The parties have been trying to work out a payment schedule for several months, but have been unsuccessful to date.
W. John Short, chief executive officer of Joe Boxer, said Tuesday, “We speak almost every day. We’re still trying to work it out. We’re going to try again Wednesday to settle this.”
The court order last week assigned to Van Mar the right to receive payments that ordinarily would go to Joe Boxer Corp. in the form of “accounts receivables, rents, commissions, royalties [and] payments due from a patent or copyright, not including loans and advances.” The order also barred the San Francisco-based Joe Boxer from “encumbering or disposing of any property that Van Mar has been assigned.”
According to Short, “The order has very little effect on the company. The normal flow of the business with our financial lenders continues to operate normally.”
The ceo said the offer on the table now is $1 million, with the balance payable over a two-year period.
He said the firm hoped to avoid a bankruptcy filing but that it had support from its lenders even if one couldn’t be avoided.
Meanwhile, a deposition of a Joe Boxer executive is scheduled for Thursday in San Francisco, according to Jed Schlacter of Schlacter & Associates, counsel for Van Mar. The deposition is supposed to help Van Mar determine the status of Joe Boxer’s financial picture. A similar session is set for sometime next week with an executive from Joe Boxer’s factor, The CIT Group/Commercial Services in New York.