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    Great Plains Airlines Suit Refiled in State Court

    July 25, 2006
    The lawsuit alleges that the former airline was mismanaged, which led to its financial trouble.

    Source The Tulsa World

    The lawsuit alleges that the former airline was mismanaged, which led to its financial trouble. In a matter that previously was filed in another court, a bankruptcy trustee for Great Plains Airlines filed suit Friday in Tulsa County District Court against former Great Plains directors, alleging that they breached their duties.

    Court-appointed trustee Patrick Malloy III filed the action against David Johnson, Steven Berlin, Tom Kimball, Tammie Maloney, Jeff Sullivan, Donald McCorkell and John Knight.

    The case arises out of the failure of the joint board of directors of bankrupt debtors Great Plains Airlines Holding Co. and Ozark Airlines Inc. -- doing business as Great Plains Airlines -- to honor their fiduciary obligations as directors, it states.

    The suit alleges that the directors "grossly neglected their duties in the management and affairs of Great Plains and mismanaged the company's assets" and that as a result, Great Plains sustained damages that include the "dissipation of corporate assets and increased liabilities in excess of $20 million."

    This matter previously was filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, but an April filing by Malloy indicated that it should be filed in state court.

    Great Plains filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in 2004. It converted its bankruptcy to a Chapter 7 liquidation in 2005 after executives said efforts to find financing and investors had been unsuccessful.

    In January, attorney Joel Wohlgemuth issued a statement on behalf of the former directors, categorizing the litigation by Malloy as "baseless."

    The former directors of Great Plains spent "countless hours on the goal of improving air service for Tulsa and the state," Wohlgemuth's previous news release said.

    McCorkell is a former state representative and was an unsuccessful Tulsa mayoral candidate this year.

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