Shuttered Illinois trucking company files for bankruptcy liquidation

October 25, 2024

A shuttered Illinois-based trucking company that once hauled general freight, beverages and paper products recently filed for bankruptcy liquidation.

Mighty Move Transportation LLC of Dolton, Illinois, had 70 power units and 75 drivers at the time of its closure, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s SAFER website.

The five-year-old carrier, Mighty Move Transportation, which also hauled liquids and gases, filed its petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois on Thursday. The petition lists Charles W. Sanders as CEO of the trucking company. No reason was given as to why the carrier, which also had a branch in Fort Wayne, Indiana, filed for Chapter 7.

Mighty Move Transportation is represented by bankruptcy attorney Charles L. Magerski of CLM Law Group, P.C. in Lansing, Illinois.

FreightWaves has reached out to both Magerski and Sanders for comment.

In its Chapter 7 petition, Mighty Move Transportation lists its assets as up to $50,000 and liabilities as between $500,000 and $1 million. The company, which has up to 49 creditors, maintains that no funds will be available for distribution to unsecured creditors after administrative fees are paid.

According to Mighty Move Transportation’s financials, its gross revenues from Jan. 1 until its bankruptcy filing date are around $2.3 million. Its petition states the company made nearly $4.5 million in 2023 and about $4.7 million in 2022.

According to the FMCSA, Mighty Move Transportation’s operating authority was granted in March 2019 and remains active, along with Its Bodily Injury Property Damage Coverage (BIPD) insurance. Over the past 24 months, Mighty Move Transportation did not have any driver or vehicle inspections and no fatal, injury or towaways were reported over the same time period, according to FMCSA data.

Four months before the company’s closure and bankruptcy filing, Mighty Move changed its number of power units from 50 to 70 on its MCS-150 form. It kept the same number of 75 drivers as it previously listed in its previous filings.

Among the company’s top creditors with the largest nonpriority unsecured claims include RTR Recovery LLC of New York, New York, owed nearly $194,000; The Fundworks LLC of Salt Lake City, Utah, is owed more than $113,000; and Apollo Funding Co. of East Rochester, New York, which is owed more than $102,000.

Sanders, on behalf of Mighty Move Transportation, applied for and received a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan from the Self-Help Credit Union for nearly $408,000 in May 2020, from Self-Help Credit Union. His application stated that Mighty Move Transportation had 110 trucking jobs and had monthly payroll expenses of nearly $408,000. The trucking company’s loan amount was forgiven for over $413,000, which includes any accrued interest.

A creditors’ meeting has been set for Dec. 4,

Breach-of-contract lawsuits

The bankruptcy petition states that two breach-of-contract lawsuits have been filed against the trucking company, including one against Mighty Move Transportation LLC, Mighty Move Transportation and Sanders, was filed by Apollo Funding in Monroe County Supreme Court in Rochester in September 2024

A second breach-of-contract lawsuit has been filed against Sanders and the carrier was filed in October by DMKA LLC, doing business as The Smarter Merchant in Kings County Supreme Court in Brooklyn, New York

Sanders also filed for personal bankruptcy on Wednesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois. In his petition, which seeks Chapter 13, if approved by the bankruptcy court, would allow him to pay down his debts over a period of time, In his petition, he lists RTR Recovery and Apollo Funding as having nonpriority unsecured claims. He also listed the two breach-of-contract lawsuits filed by merchant cash advance companies, DMKA and Apollo Funding, which name him personally as well as his trucking company, in his petition.

A creditors’ meeting has been set for Nov. 20 in Sander’s personal bankruptcy case.

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