Costa Mesa : Students’ Travel Agency Files Bankruptcy Action
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Unique Discoveries Inc., a travel agency that failed to forward money to pay for hotel rooms, meals and ground transportation for seven Costa Mesa students touring Europe earlier this month, has filed for bankruptcy.
The petition, filed Monday by the Los Angeles travel firm in federal Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles, seeks to have the firm liquidated so its assets can be used to pay off debts.
However, Richard T. Baum, the attorney for Unique Discoveries, said he is unsure how much money the seven students from Costa Mesa’s Estancia High School can recover because the firm is believed to only have $50,000 in assets to pay off $325,000 in debts.
The students want Unique Discoveries to reimburse them for the $500 they each had to pay to continue their European tour. Midway through the three-week trip that ended July 20, the students were told that their prepaid package would no longer be honored because Unique Discoveries had failed to forward money to cover costs, according to Geraldine Lumian, an Estancia teacher who chaperoned the group.
Unique Discoveries was forced to file for bankruptcy, Baum said, because an expansion of the business proved to be highly unprofitable.
A hearing on the bankruptcy petition probably will be held in about two months, Baum said.
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