A federal judge has thrown out the bankruptcy cases of three Maine housing companies tied to embattled developer Michael Liberty, the Bangor Daily News reported. The companies, which together own about 600 units of low-income and senior housing across the state, filed last year for chapter 11 protection. Opposing counsel argued that the companies were abusing federal bankruptcy law in attempts to break contracts with their property manager. And the top bankruptcy judge in Maine appears to have agreed. Last Friday, Chief Judge Peter Cary dismissed the cases of Pine State Housing Series, LLC, Montfort Housing and Birch Ridge Limited Partnership. Liberty, who was recently released from a federal prison and is facing new allegations of scamming investors out of millions of dollars, is named in court documents as a “general partner” in each of the companies. Drummond Woodsum lawyer Jeremy Fischer represented the companies’ property manager, Stanford Management, and filed the motion to dismiss the cases. He said that the “bad faith” cases were also an effort by Liberty to line his own pockets.
