Photo of the Fleischmanns theater in 2009 by Doug Kerr, via Flickr.
A dispute over the ownership of the Fleischmanns movie theater has finally been resolved, leaving the village of Fleischmanns in the movie business.
In a decision issued last week, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Diane Davis granted a motion for summary judgement in favor of the Village of Fleischmanns, which has been litigating for the right to foreclose on the Fleischmanns Theater for years. The theater's owners, Brian Dowd and Richard Dowd, owed the village about $20,000 in unpaid taxes in 2008, when the village first filed for foreclosure. The case wended its way through county and state courts until last November, when a state appeals court ruled that the village had the right to foreclose.
Despite last fall's victory, the village's ownership of the movie theater remained in doubt until last week, thanks to the bankruptcy of a holding company established by the Dowds to run the movie theater. When Onteora Associates, which is jointly owned by both Dowds, filed for bankruptcy in 2009, the company listed the movie theater as one of its assets. In April 2010, the company filed a motion for summary judgement in bankruptcy court requesting that Judge Davis order "the property seized by the Village of Fleischmanns to be returned.'"
In her decision last week, Judge Davis denied Onteora Associates' request, reasoning that its right to the property was extinguished when the foreclosure went through. The judge wrote that she understood that the consequences of her decision "will be harsh" for the former owners of the movie theater. Still, it was "appropriate" to rule in favor of the village because "the parties stipulated to the issues to be decided and Debtor was afforded notice and an opportunity to present its best case."
Karen Veronica DeFio, a Syracuse lawyer who represented the village in the bankruptcy proceeding, declined to comment on the case. Richard H. Weiskopf, Esq., an Albany attorney who represented Onteora Associates, could not be reached in time for publication.
