Schroeder Freight - Bankruptcy

I doubt very much if Schroeder Freight is/was a registered, legitimate broker. Nor do I think that they maintained a trust account. There is no indication at this point, as to how many of the shipments involved Can/US travel, so the question about the surety bond may not be applicable. However, if it was and they had a surety bond in place, some of those creditors could have applied to it for non payment long before things got to the point they are now. In that case, those creditors would have received compensation, a decidedly better position than those on the list, wouldn't you agree chica123?
 
Terrible. How the F. do you get 35 pages of carriers you screw over?
Looking at this list they are definitely working as a broker.
 
  • Like
Reactions: chica123
I hope Ernie and Linda Schroeder can survive after being owed $5,000,000.00....from themselves...
I see Flying Eagle is owed about 22k...I guess not even family was spared...but I have a feeling they worked out a side deal on that.
This was planned. No way you suck in this many different carriers and just realize one day you can't cover the bills.
 
I am not an expert in Bankruptcy law, but if the monies that show owed to Ernie and Linda are as a result of a "secured loan" that they made to the company at some point then I believe that they are "legally" entitled to it. This would have to be cash that they actually loaned the business and the business guaranteed the loan with all assets including cash on hand and receivables. (just like a bank would as a loan condition) They would then become 2nd in line behind the government in the line of secured creditors. If the money owed on the books is showing as bonus's owed or expenses then I believe that any bankruptcy judge would disallow their claim as being "secured" But, I would like "Scam Chasers" opinion since he is certainly more knowledgeable with these scenarios then I am.
 
I have not heard of a shareholders loan ever being classified as a "secured" loan before. I too am no expert in bankruptcy law, but it would surprise me if it was. More likely deferred bonuses and or salaries/expenses. In any event, it would appear even a secured creditor is going to receive a severe "haircut" after this is wrapped up, unless of course the NOI is accepted and they can re-organize and get back on their feet.
 
Any loans can be secured. If the shareholders secured their loans by way of a GSA/PPSA, they would come first, right after some government agencies, and share with any other secured parties. Thats the reason you perform searchs on the legal entities prior to issuing credit.
 
As much as I understand losing any amount of $ for a job well done hurts. The dollar value on most of the carriers on this list doesn't seem to be deal breakers. If the numbers are correct, the truck stops and rental companies took the biggest hit.( not that i'm saying that's any better) and of course the Gov. but they will def be 1st in line.
I'm still am having a hard time understanding how Shroeder Freight can have over 475+ unpaid carriers. It just does not make sense to me.
 
When they list all of the unpaid creditors, could some of the smaller amounts be from carriers who have just given up on getting paid, perhaps months ago, thereby inflating the total number? Or, did some of the unpaid entities stop extending credit, forcing Schroeder to expand their network of unsuspecting providers? Surely most of this credit is well past the due date.
 
That makes a lot of sense Igor. As I mentioned in my earlier posting, Tim was offering to take my freight and "partner it out" for me. When I asked him what he meant, it was the last I heard from him. I assume they took all and any freight offered to them and rebrokered it. A lot of the bigger hits were taken by carriers servicing their same lanes. Normally, you wouldn't subcontract your main lanes to direct competitors...unless you didn't care if that sub went after the the client direct...which seems like the scenario here.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Igor Galanter
I was thinking the same thing ... quite a bit of freight was re-brokered. I know they were trying to run a legitimate brokerage but in my opinion, with the wrong people in place. If they had that much freight that quickly, it could only come from the customers on the asset based side of the business where they brokered what didn't work on their trucks and either double-brokering freight or moving freight from customers that are easy prey (double brokerage or just bottom feeder types). The Toronto office was open for barely a year.

As far as the Schroeders being secured creditors, I've seen this many times whether from the industry or not.

And hey, if they weren't paying carriers then they'd just have to take whoever they could find on the Link.
 
I am not an expert in Bankruptcy law, but if the monies that show owed to Ernie and Linda are as a result of a "secured loan" that they made to the company at some point then I believe that they are "legally" entitled to it. This would have to be cash that they actually loaned the business and the business guaranteed the loan with all assets including cash on hand and receivables. (just like a bank would as a loan condition) They would then become 2nd in line behind the government in the line of secured creditors. If the money owed on the books is showing as bonus's owed or expenses then I believe that any bankruptcy judge would disallow their claim as being "secured" But, I would like "Scam Chasers" opinion since he is certainly more knowledgeable with these scenarios then I am.

Any secured or unsecured creditor has to prove his claim regardless - it is not sufficient to simply have a PPSA in place. A PPSA registration is only to notify other parties that certain assets of the company have been pledged to the Registrant.
Unless I have misread the MNP NOI filing, they have grouped all creditors (secured and unsecured) together, to come up with a total debt of $15,642,000, so SFI would need a little over $10,433,000 from voting creditors to achieve the required threshold of 66.7%. With Ernie & Linda Schroeder claiming $5,000,000, 4938527 and 5021308 Manitoba (possible SFI connected) claiming almost $1,300,000, and TD Bank at over $5,000,000, they would still need around 275 votes in favour of whatever the proposal comes out at.

Can anyone confirm the relationship between Ernie & Linda Schroeder and Robert Schroeder? Also, what does anyone know about Carlin Thiessen. It appears that he had a very senior role with SFI until October/November of 2016; namely, President. It appears that prior to joining SFI in October 2013, he ran Flying Eagle Transport.
 
Last edited:
FYI, I was advised today by The Guarantee Company, the provider of the $75,000 USD bond for Schroeder, that due to the number of claims being submitted etc., that their American lawyers have initially decided that the best way to deal with the bond claims is to forward the money to MNP and let them decide how to split it up.

I told them that since they have an office in Toronto that they should obtain a Canadian legal opinion, as MNP is not under any statutory requirement to receive funds pursuant to a NOI filing, and if they did, it would only serve to dilute monies rightfully due to those carriers that did transborder work brokered to them by SFI. It might be a different story if the NOI fails, and SFI is automatically placed into bankruptcy. If that happens, I can see a filing done by carriers, similar to the GMAC Federal Industries case, where the Courts upheld a lower court decision that monies collected by MNP from shippers and receivers had to be placed into a separate trust account for the benefit of the carriers and having priority over the claims of the secured creditors.
 
Ahhh.....the plot thickens. So they did have a surety bond in place. Looks like the trust account is next. Interesting info Scam Chaser.
 
Scam Chaser. They do not always allow non arms length parties to vote. I have seen this the past. you might want to look into this. Good Luck!
 
I hope everyone votes to bankrupt the SOB's. As far as their brokerage division Brian and the gang are headed to another outfit (he told my brother the name but I cannot remember it at this point. They are a small 10-12 truck fleet that is taking on Brian and his hole crew) that I for one will not be dealing with as once bitten, twice shy.
 
Please share when you do remember Rob. We did one order for Schroeder back in May and hounded the F#$k out of them to be paid in August. Don't want to go through that again.
 
Hi,

Well there is a lot being said about Schroeder and my name is being dragged into the mud with the company- I want to clear a few things up:

1. Yes harry and I got into a war of words and was he nice no(and I understand why)- was I not nice back to him no. I put my cell phone number up for people to call so I could help with assisting carriers with being paid and when some one challenges me to a fight and call me every name in the book it its hard to keep your cool- I tried to explain that my office couldn't cut chq and they had to speak to Rob or Laurie (AP) about payment, Harry lied and said he spoke to Ernie and was told him to call me for money... Not true at all, I tried my best and was calling rob 5 times a trying to get an answer to when chqs will be issued.

2.we did double broker a hand full of loads but it was with permission from our customers, those who know me will testify I never lied to carriers or customers and was always transparent - Even if the carrier couldn't do the load they would as if they can broker it out just to get the job done and once approved we said yes...

3. I feel sick to my stomach and wish I could revert the clock and never left my old company

4.My pop was a city driver in wpg for 30 years and I would never have booked loads knowing carriers wouldn't be paid-

I am no longer with Schroeder as my entire office has been laid off 2 weeks before xmas- yes we found a new home so if you don't want to work with me personally that's fine but understand what happened was 1000% out of my control and wish I could have done more.

This is bad for the great carriers we used and for us and our customers- no one wins here.

again if anyone wants to call me please do so 647.401.5318 as I don't hide from anyone!!!

Brian
 
Last edited:
We must have got in just over the wire, Did an ltl back in July for 450.00 and received payment September 15,2016
I pushed your payment like I did with others, but it just came to a stop and we found out once carriers started to call for payment that's when things started to get worse.... up till june/july they paid everyone 30-60 days.