$210 million in Borders gift cards are worthless, judge rules

[Newsjock]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Those clinging hopefully to the old Borders books gift cards stashed in their drawers or wallets are out of luck, a Manhattan federal judge ruled Wednesday. According to Reuters, there are about $210.5 million worth of such cards that had not been used by the time the bookstore chain went out of business in September 2011. All of which are now "equitably moot."

The gift card drama first entered the headlines when two frustrated shoppers who had about $125 in unused gift cards filed court papers in January 2012 arguing that Borders did not give card holders adequate notice to redeem them for books. Even though the bookstore did publish a claim deadline in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, an attorney for the claimants argued, at the time, that the average customer may not have seen it.

... According to U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter, it would be unfair to other creditors of Borders Group if gift card holders tried to recover their money. As Reuters reports, Carter said that to do so "could upset liquidation by Borders' bankruptcy trustee that is already 'substantially' completed.'" Carter said that gift card holders did not meet the requirements for an exception.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-judge-rules-gifts-cards-from-borders-bookstores-worthless-20130523,0,7824315.story

[SomethingFishy]

1. In other words

The corporations that were owed money get to split what they stole from the consumers. How nice for them.

[Initech]

2. Yup more for them and less for us. Funny how that works.

[Revanchist]

3. I can find stories about Borders going out of business as far back as July 18 2011.

It looks like they finally shut down in the middle of December 2011. That gave people four months to use the gift cards, how much time is considered enough?

[SomethingFishy]

4. How about the same amount of time the creditors get?

Or, since they knew they were going under they could have stopped selling them. I paid $26 for a year of their "discount card" sometime in late 2011, when I bought it they sold it to me knowing they were going out of business and I wouldn't get to use it yet they had no problem taking my money without telling me..

They took 200 million dollars of consumer money and now the creditors are going to get that money. I'm not sure how you see nothing wrong with that. Unless you are telling me that they accidentally sold 210 million worth of gift cards..

[Egalitarian Thug]

13. +1

[Bonhomme Richard]

5. It kind of makes you wonder. If they sold $210 million in gift cards.

how the hell did they go out of business.

[Demit]

6. Buyer beware. Maybe this will help people see the light about gift cards

and stop buying them. They always were a business idea that benefited the store. Jeez, just give a gift of cash. The recipient isn't forced to spend more money if they can't find an item that matches the exact amount of the card.

[Gormy Cuss]

14. +1

[flamingdem]

7. I still have mine .. nt

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. Future collector's item. Hold onto it.

[Sherman A1]

8. Disturbing, but hardly surprising

In my opinion the Gift Cards represent a debt just as any debt owed to other creditors. I believe that the gift card holders should get a piece of what is left, but obviously the Court has another viewpoint.

[Cleita]

10. I would think that the court is wrong in this.

Those gift cards should be as good as the money that paid for them whether Borders exist or not. Revenue from the liquidation of their assets should be used to pay them back. It's really simple accounting. Unfortunately, it seems there is no law that covers gift certificates' worth as an asset.

[bhikkhu]

11. I think there was plenty of notice

...the bankruptcy was widely publicized for weeks, and the liquidation went on for a long time. We used our cards up before the company went into liquidation, because we weren't sure if the cards would be any good during liquidation.

As it was, the store in our town was open for a month, selling everything down to the bone. And they did take Borders cards as payment right up until the end. What more would be expected?

[DiverDave]

12. Wonder what the CEO,COO and the like walked with

That judge helped STEAL from ordinary consumers.
THIEF