Lawyers working to pay off the final bills of bankrupt sporting goods distributor AcuSport Corp. have sued the South Carolina company that purchased its operations last year, saying the buyer broke its promise to cover more than $280,000 worth of transition costs, the Wall Street Journal reported. In a lawsuit filed Friday, AcuSport lawyers said that South Carolina outdoor-products distributor Ellett Brothers LLC hasn’t paid the bill they sent over in January after the sale closed. Under the sale contract, Ellett Brothers agreed to pay $7.4 million and reimburse some operating expenses, including business and license fees, utility charges and equipment rentals, according to a copy of the agreement filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Columbus, Ohio. Since the deal closed, Ellett Brothers hasn’t complied “with these reimbursement obligations,” AcuSport lawyers said in court papers. The lawsuit puts the payment dispute before Judge John Hoffman Jr. Ellett Brothers took over AcuSport’s struggling operations, which sold outdoor and shooting sports products to a network of major retailers, after Judge Hoffman approved the sale in June. The Bellefontaine, Ohio, company employed about 200 workers at the time it filed for bankruptcy in May 2018, a move that accelerated its search for buyers.
