Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: gift certificates

Likely they are responsible. However, who are you going to collect from and how are you going to collect?

That is the problem with trying to collect from a company that is no longer in business. They are typically out of business for a reason, i.e., cannot afford to stay in business and cannot meet obligations as they are arise. So, your $100 gift certificate is probably the least of their problems.

Re: gift certificates

Sure they are. But who are you going to complain to? If they filed bankruptcy, you should submit a claim as a creditor. Just don't waste more money paying someone to do it for you.

Re: gift certificates

Companies can go out of business in several ways. Bankruptcy and simply folding up and disappearing into the darkness are among them, and that would make recovery very doubtful and/or uneconomic to pursue.

Often, however, there is either a successor or a seller-rrelated insider who is liable. For example, when a going concern business is sold, either the buyer or the seller must assume responsibility for the debts. If the seller was a corporation, it must pay the debts or make provision for their payment before it can go out of business (dissolve) and before any insider such as a director or shareholder can receive any distribution.

Try to identify any buyer, seller, owner of a selling corporation or other successor and ask them which of them is going to make you whole.