Hahn & Hahn Helps Parents, Summer Camp After Covid Shutdown

PASADENA, Calif., March 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Thanks to Hahn & Hahn's success this month in class-action litigation, thousands of kids from L.A. to Chicago will be happy campers this summer.

The storied Pasadena-based firm successfully represented a court-certified class of over 9,000 families after Camp Galileo – an Oakland-based company running summer camps in the San Francisco, Southern California, Chicago and Denver regions – sought bankruptcy protection after declining to refund over $11 million in camp deposits when the Covid pandemic sidelined its operations.

Although Galileo's exit out of bankruptcy represents only its first step toward repaying its debts, lawyers at Hahn & Hahn say the outcome is a win for all involved because the parents are set to recoup their losses and the company can continue operating, rather than see its business shut down and its assets sold off.

"The kids and parents both won here," said Dean Rallis Jr., who heads the firm's Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring Practice Group. "At the end of the day, all parties benefited from what could have been a disaster."

After the pandemic hit and Galileo canceled its camps, media reported that parents were furious that the company declined to offer even partial refunds – despite receiving more than $2.5 million in PPP assistance.

Because Galileo had already spent much of the deposits on staffing, campground reservations and other costs it couldn't recoup, the company did not have enough cash to repay all parents or other creditors, Rallis said. By putting the collective interest of the entire class body first while also playing peacemaker with all parties involved, Rallis added, Hahn & Hahn was able to both keep individual parents from sidestepping the class and successfully negotiate a deal with Galileo that will see the parents being made whole before other creditors.

Under the class settlement, approved Feb. 9 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California, class members could elect to receive either a credit redeemable on Galileo's camps or an unlimited-use coupon valid for five years that offers more than 40% off of camp prices, or class members could allow Galileo up to five years to repay their lost deposits.

Hahn & Hahn LLP has been an active member of the Southern California business and legal communities since 1899. The firm represents entrepreneurs, innovators, business owners, family offices and charitable organizations in their corporate, real estate, employment, bankruptcy/insolvency, estate planning and family law issues and in litigation.  For more information visit https://www.hahnlawyers.com/.

SOURCE Hahn & Hahn LLP