The Broke and the Beautiful: Hell Yeah Edition

This week on The Broke and the Beautiful, Eddie Montgomery is rolling with bankruptcy and so is the chairman of a far-right political party in Britain. Also, a lawsuit against film financier David Bergstein was dismissed.

New Year’s Eve calls for a celebration, but where Eddie Montgomery comes from, it called for something else. According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, half of the country duo Montgomery Gentry filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Kentucky with debts of $13.4 million. Court documents show that much of the debt is property taxes owed on his Harrodsburg, Ky., restaurant, Eddie Montgomery’s Steakhouse. Mr. Montgomery’s $1.9 million in assets includes a shuffleboard table worth $2,000, a gun collection worth $1,500 and several vehicles worth close to $60,000. His four dogs, however, were only pegged at being worth $20 each.

The Herald-Leader said the steakhouse, which abruptly closed last May, is set to be sold next Friday in a master commissioner’s sale. “Due to his divorce [from ex-wife Tracy Nunan] and the restaurant closure, Mr. Montgomery filed for Chapter 7 relief to address these ongoing issues,” Jamie Harris, Mr. Montgomery’s lawyer, told the newspaper.

The British National Party might not mean much here in the U.S., but the far-right-wing political party is well-known in the United Kingdom. And this week, its leader filed for bankruptcy, BBC News reported. BNP Chairman Nick Griffin was declared bankrupt Thursday, noting on Twitter that it doesn’t prevent him from being a member of Parliament. Mr. Griffin, who plans to run stand for Parliament again in May, said he was forced into bankruptcy over a £77,000 ($126,500) bill from law firm Gilbert Davies and Partners. Mr. Griffin was later ordered to pay £120,000 pounds in costs and fees, something he’s planning to fight.

“This [bankruptcy] order will not prevent me fighting for the interests of the British people or leading the British National Party to a fresh round of electoral victories. It’s of no political significance whatsoever,” Mr. Griffin said on BNP’s website. “ I will take whatever is thrown at me and deal with it.”

Film financier David Bergstein has been grappling with lawsuits and bankruptcy for years, but it looks like he’ might be getting  a break. According to the Hollywood Reporter, a judge nixed the last of a number of lawsuits brought by Screen Capital International Corp. against Mr. Bergstein and Ronald Tutor, his former business partner. The ruling, filed last month, could signify the end of a plan by SCIC and Aramid Entertainment to wring some value out of Mr. Bergstein’s bankrupt companies. It won’t be smooth sailing right away, though; the ruling is getting appealed.

Write to Melanie Cohen at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @MelanieLisa.