Karen S. Kim
The former producer of the defunct Montrose Family Festival was
handed back corporate status by the Secretary of State on Thursday,
opening the door for a possible lawsuit by the Montrose Shopping Park
Assn.
The company's corporate status had been suspended May 15 because a
statement of officers form, documentation required by the state
annually, had not been filed by Monrovia-based Family Festival
Productions Inc. by its due date of July 31, 2001. The form was
received Thursday by the Secretary of State's office, officials said.
The status of Family Festival Productions is a matter of grave
concern for the Montrose Shopping Park Assn.'s board of directors,
which is still trying to obtain an estimated $13,000 in back pay from
Montrose Family Festival proprietor David Gayman. Gayman has denied
owing the association that amount.
"The Franchise Tax Board has stripped Dave Gayman of his corporate
status," board member John Drayman announced to members at a meeting
Thursday morning. "That leaves us with no entity to sue."
In fact, Gayman's corporate status was suspended by the Secretary
of State's office. Drayman could not be reached for comment after the
meeting.
An official in the statement of officers unit of the Secretary of
State's office said suspended status means suspended business.
"If you're on suspended status, you lose all your privileges as a
corporation. You cannot conduct business, you cannot get your
license, you cannot do active business, and there's the possibility
you could lose your name," said the official, who would identify
herself only as Myrna.
Gayman, whose shopping park contract was terminated in November,
is involved in two lawsuits filed by Southland, a trade association
for farmers, for uncollected fees from a farmers' market operated by
Gayman in Monrovia and the Montrose Family Festival. The trade
association is seeking $5,019.55 from the Montrose Shopping Park
Assn. for fees collected by Gayman between April 5, 2001 and Nov. 15,
2001. Montrose association members claim he agreed to pay Southland
that money without their authorization.
Gayman's attorney Richard Meaglia did not return repeated calls
for comment.
