Coffee hut founder has 2 weeks to pay $508K Billings Gazette
05.12.09
After Brenda Burkhartsmeier produced some photos of her vehicles
and additional financial documents, the founder of Mountain Mudd
coffee kiosks was allowed two more weeks to pay a $508,359 court
judgment.
During a Friday hearing, Yellowstone County District Court Judge
Susan Watters ordered Burkhartsmeier to continue to cooperate with
a court-appointed receiver who is collecting the judgment won by
two Chicago women.
The judgment was upheld in October by the Montana Supreme
Court.
“We encourage you to continue to negotiate in good faith,” Watters
said.
The judge gave the parties until Dec. 18 to reach a settlement and
scheduled another hearing for Dec. 21.
Burkhartsmeier acted as her own attorney in court and represented
one of her companies, Mountain Manufacturing Inc. She was supposed
to turn over all of the documents by Dec. 1, but Watters gave her a
three-day extension. Since Tuesday’s hearings, Burkhartsmeier has
produced photographs of her 2000 Jaguar, a 2002 Yamaha ATV, two
snowmobiles and additional bank account information.
In 2006, Chicago resident Lana Vlahakis and Brenda Hyde won a
judgment against Mountain Mudd and Burkhartsmeier for failing to
deliver a “ready to go” coffee kiosk business.
Watters has appointed Marty Connell and his company, Agricultural
and Financial Management Inc. of Billings, to collect.
Billings attorney Scott Green represents the Chicago women and said
he is working with the court-appointed receiver to collect the
$508,359 plus interest.
“We’re negotiating a final resolution of the judgment whether they
turn over property or cash or some other method that will satisfy
my clients,” Green said.
If Burkhartsmeier hadn’t produced the documents, she could have
been jailed for contempt of court.
“But there was substantial compliance,” Green said.
Burkhartsmeier and her husband, Dennis Burkhartsmeier, who also
worked at the Mountain Mudd businesses, own a home in Billings and
are living part time in Post Falls, Idaho, according to
attorneys.
Billings attorney Jeff Hunnes, who represents the receiver, told
the judge they still are trying to get access to an overseas
account at a French bank called Societe Generale.
Burkhartsmeier was ordered to keep the vehicles in Billings.
Liquidation of her assets will begin in two weeks if there is no
settlement, the judge said.
A separate lawsuit has been filed against Dennis Burkhartsmeier,
claiming that some assets were fraudulently transferred to him and
their companies in a “shell game” to shield them from the Chicago
judgment. In a November affidavit, Dennis Burkhartsmeier was
accused of removing property from the couple’s Billings home and of
trying to remove assets from their Cooke City cabin.
Brenda Burkhartsmeier also was accused of transferring $530,000 to
her husband in October 2008 and of transferring the titles of a
1990 Ferrari and a 1995 Dodge pickup to one of their companies,
Equity Partnership LLC.
She started Mountain Mudd in 1994, and in 2002 the company was
named Montana’s savviest small business of the year. The following
year, more than 40 mostly investors filed a financial fraud lawsuit
against Mountain Mudd and its owners. The Burkhartsmeiers and their
companies have been involved in numerous other legal
disputes.
Three years ago, CHS Inc., a Minnesota-based energy, grain and food
cooperative, bought some of Mountain Mudd’s assets and completed
its purchase in 2007. Mountain Mudd is now a wholly owned
subsidiary of CHS under the name Partnered Beverages LLC. The
Burkhartsmeiers severed their working relationship with Mountain
Mudd in March.
Mountain Mudd now operates in 23 states and eight Middle East
countries and opened kiosks in Quebec last summer.
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