Contractor in Philly Building Collapse a No-Show in Bankruptcy

When Griffin Campbell filed for Chapter 13 protection in March, he was like a lot of other small-time Philadelphia entrepreneurs, with a string of properties, a load of unpaid taxes, a criminal record and a contractor’s license.

Then came the June 5 building collapse that killed six people and injured more than a dozen others, triggering a wave of lawsuits, a grand jury probe, a special hearing of Philadelphia’s City Council, the suicide of a city building inspector and criminal charges against a worker on the site, with the possibility of more charges on the way.

So it’s really no surprise that Campbell, whose company was handling the demolition of the building that collapsed, was a no-show Wednesday at a bankruptcy meeting where he was due to be questioned under oath.

Neither Mr. Campbell’s bankruptcy attorney nor the attorney representing his company, Griffin Campbell Construction, returned calls seeking comment Wednesday. Failure to appear to be questioned by creditors is the least of Mr. Campbell’s troubles, especially since the list of creditors is likely to get much bigger.

Kenneth Edelin, an attorney representing Griffin Campbell Construction, has publicly defended his client, releasing a statement that says Mr. Campbell is “confident that the results of the investigation will reveal that professional and safety-conscious business practices were in place.”

The bankruptcy is Mr. Campbell’s second. An earlier Chapter 13 proceeding, begun in 2010, was thrown out the following year due to Mr. Campbell’s failure to make the payments he had agreed to make. His criminal record dates back to an insurance fraud scheme, which ended with a guilty plea in 2009.

Court papers make it clear Mr. Campbell was a man under pressure when he was running the demolition job on Market Street. He was hired to do the work by the property owner, a company run by Richard Basciano, a developer who got rich on pornography palaces in New York and Philadelphia.

As for Mr. Campbell, the contracting business was bringing him only $2,000 per month, filings say. There are no details on how the owner of the contracting business, which was working other jobs in addition to the six-fatality Market Street demolition, was pulling down $500 per week in pay.

Mr. Campbell was getting by on income from his real estate: seven row homes picked up for $58,001, in total, and now worth $227,000, according to bankruptcy filings.

Even before the building collapse, Chapter 13 Trustee William Miller has asked that Mr. Campbell’s bankruptcy case be tossed on the grounds he has, as in the previous bankruptcy, failed to pay what he said he would pay.

Write to Peg Brickley at [email protected].

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post misstated the location of the meeting in the headline. It wasn’t set to be held in bankruptcy court.