4RUN3 brought to federal court for involuntary bankruptcy case

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - A federal court hearing was held on Thursday after local running and race coordinating shop 4RUN3 abruptly shut down last month, with the charities they worked with hoping to get back their lost donations they claim were never paid to them.

The attorneys representing those charities told us this is a very unusual case. Although, as we last reported, 4RUN3 posted on Facebook that they were bankrupt, it turns out they never formally filed for bankruptcy. So today, these local charities petitioned the court to force 4RUN3 into bankruptcy and liquidate their assets.

Laura Hanratty is the president elect for the Junior League of Greater Springfield, an organization that provides college scholarships to young women who are active in the community. But, on Thursday, Hanratty found herself in federal court fighting for what she claims several local charities across western Mass are owed by East Longmeadow race shop 4RUN3.

“There really isn’t one cause that I can think of that hasn’t been impacted in this,” she claimed.

For Hanratty, this alleged betrayal is personal.

“I’ve been running with 4RUN3 since it opened and their previous store as well, so about nine to 10 years I’ve been running with that running community.”

It was revealed in court that local running and race coordinating shop 4RUN3 withheld tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of donations from charities they worked with. For a flat fee, 4RUN3 provided services during charity events including race registration, which attorney Katie McDonough informed the court was done through a website where they collected fees and donations. But instead of using a bank account operated by the charity, it went right into 4RUN3′s pocket.

McDonough alleged that several of her clients were denied access to that account while all of them were denied access to the money inside.

“People need to know when they’re making a charitable donation that that money goes to his intended recipient.”

Thursday both McDonough and co-counsel John Goldsmith filed a motion to appoint a trustee to look into 4RUN3′s assets, which was granted by the judge.

“There are rights that a bankruptcy trustee has to look into transfers that took place within a certain period of time before the bankruptcy, and there may be an ability to recapture those funds, bring them back into what they call a bankruptcy estate, distribute them evenly amongst all the creditors, it’s sort  of a claw-back provision.”

And McDonough told Western Mass News, in her experience, involuntary bankruptcy cases like this one are very unusual.

“I think they’re very rare. Typically, debtors will file for bankruptcy when they state their bankruptcy. That generally means that they have filed a petition with the core asking that the court state collections and then proceeding to either liquidate their assets or otherwise pay off predators and Caisse had not in fact filed a bankruptcy petition as far as we can tell.”

Although five charities have signed the petition so far, it’s believed many more were impacted.

A court date has not yet been selected, however, 4RUN3 has 21 days from May 30th to respond before the court takes action. Western Mass News reached out to 4RUN3 but have not yet heard back.