Appeals court last week affirmed $3M arbitration ruling in wrongful death case against restaurant operator River Sub LLC
A San Antonio, Texas-based Subway franchisee, which operates 48 locations, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection a week after an appeals court upheld a $3 million arbitration award in a 2020 restaurant manager’s murder case.
Emergency hearings are scheduled for Thursday in River Sub LLC’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case. River Sub is owned by Cathy Amato, Martha Jordan and Richard Riley.
River Sub’s bankruptcy petition came a week after San Antonio’s 4th Court of Appeals affirmed state District Judge Marisa Flores’ ruling upholding the $2.97 million arbitration award to the heirs of former Subway manager Marisela Cadena, the San Antonio Express News reported.
Cadena was working at a South Side Subway on Feb. 28, 2020, when abusive ex-boyfriend Andrew Munoz killed her and then himself. She was 43. The killing followed a kidnapping several weeks earlier. Cadena had notified police.
Cadena’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against River Sub in 2021. They alleged that Cadena’s manager refused her request to transfer to another restaurant for her safety.
River Sub took the dispute to arbitration under the contract Cadena signed as part of her employment, and it was assigned to arbitrator Carlos Cortez, a former judge in Dallas.
Cortez issued a written award in favor of the family in April 2023. On June 12, a three-judge panel of the 4th Court of Appeals found that State Farm, the insurance agency, and the law firm had no connection to River Sub’s arbitration case.
In its bankruptcy petition, which didn’t include information on its creditors, River Sub reported assets and liabilities each in the range of $1 million to $10 million.
River Sub posted a net loss of more than $149,000 on about $12 million in revenue in the first five months of this year, the Express News reported.
A bankruptcy court hearing is scheduled for Thursday on River Sub’s emergency motions. Those include a request for an order authorizing it to pay employees’ wages prior to the bankruptcy and another request for an order prohibiting utilities from altering or discontinuing service.
The Chapter 11 petition was filed under a subchapter of the bankruptcy code designed for small-business debtors.
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