“This is the 14th time we’ve won a court case,” said Ralph Reed, owner of JM Corp., in the Jan. 27 Herald Bulletin about his attempt to bring a trash dump to Anderson. I’ve been watching this case for 12 years and wonder if anyone believes that Ralph Reed is paying his own legal bills. Does anyone believe this mess is not being orchestrated by some out-of-state landfill company?
Over the years, he has employed three Indianapolis law firms to defend his case in courts. This is the same Ralph Reed who filed for bankruptcy in 2003 claiming $7 million in unpaid loans and only $975 in assets, primarily his Social Security check (THB, 1/2/04).
He doesn’t even own the property on which this proposed dump will be built. He has made no payments on either the first or second mortgages of the property, which total over $2.2 million (THB, 1/1/09). At normal interest rates, the accrued balances could total well over $20 million. The second mortgage holder, an Indiana bank, has stated it will not foreclose on the property although the statute of limitations allowing it to do so expires next month. The property was put up for tax sale in 2006 for delinquent unpaid taxes of $10,169 (THB, 11/2/06) but an out-of-state company paid the delinquent bill at the 11th hour preventing the sale. Mark Reed (now deceased) told The Herald Bulletin that at least five out-of-state firms had expressed an interest in purchasing the site (THB, 4/12/90).
Why would a bankrupt plaintiff bring all of these appeals to court? Does this sound fishy to anyone?
David E. Sumner, Ph.D.
Anderson
