Bankruptcy hearing delayed for former Pigeon King owner

Thursday, March 5, 2009

© AgMedia Inc.

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

The personal bankruptcy hearing for Arlan Galbraith founder of Pigeon King International, Inc., won’t get underway until May. It was originally scheduled for March 9 in London.

Waterloo-based PKI sold pigeon breeding pairs for as much as $500 and bought back offspring for up to $50 each. When Galbraith closed its doors last June, nearly 1,000 breeders in Canada and the United States were left with hundreds of thousands of worthless birds.

Susan Taves, a spokesperson for BDO Dunwoody Limited, Galbraith’s interim receiver and bankruptcy trustee of his former business, says lawyers had scheduling conflicts and needed more preparation time.

A date of May 8 “has been thrown out there and I don’t think that’s going to work,” she says. Lawyers are “still working with the court and their schedules.”

James Wiersma, of Fishersville, Ontario, one of four creditor-appointed inspectors in the PKI failure, filed the personal bankruptcy application against Galbraith in November.

Wiersma claims Galbraith personally owes him nearly $23,000 under the terms of a pigeon-breeding contract. He alleges others are owed much more.

Galbraith is asking the court to dismiss Wiersma’s application, and also to repeal the Nov. 12 appointment of BDO Dunwoody as interim receiver. 

In a court document, the former pigeon czar claims he has been able to pay his debts and owes Wiersma, at most, less than $1,000. He claims his failed company owes money to former growers and alleges Wiersma is using “this court as a collection agency.”

All claims have yet to be proved in court. BF