Environmental-Law Consultant Seeks Chapter 11 : Reorganization: Michael Brandman Associates says big accounts such as Disneyland’s will not be affected.
Michael Brandman Associates, Orange County’s largest environmental-compliance consulting firm, filed Tuesday for bankruptcy protection.
The company, whose recent jobs have included a mammoth environmental impact report for Disneyland’s proposed $3-billion expansion, reported assets of $4 million and liabilities of $3.2 million in its filing under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code.
Chief Executive Michael Brandman, 46, blamed the company’s troubles on close ties to the hard-hit construction industry in Southern California and the company’s expensive leases for its offices.
Brandman said the company will file a reorganization plan with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Ana and hopes to continue as a business. Big projects such as the Disney report will not be affected by the filing, he said.
David Neale, attorney for the company, said: “They expanded in the 1980s to meet clients’ demands, and found in the 1990s that demand was no longer there.”
The bankruptcy petition, Neale said, “is not the last gasp. It’s designed to give them some breathing room.”
A Chapter 11 filing allows a company to continue operating while it restructures its debt.
Brandman said the company has about 70 employees, down from a peak of about 150 in 1991. It has cut back its costs and under bankruptcy court protection will evaluate its ability to fulfill lease agreements with landlords, he said.
Brandman and seven others started the company in 1982, in the midst of the last recession. He and its president, Tom Smith, 45, are the principal owners.
“We went through the last recession and tried to survive any future recession,” Brandman said. “Who knew that this one would last this long?”
The company’s largest secured creditor is Union Bank, which is owed $1.1 million for a line of credit. Various subcontractors who did work for the company are among the unsecured creditors.
