A Mamaroneck beauty salon that claims a Rockland contractor botched a renovation project seven years ago has sued the owner in bankruptcy court to preserve a $350,000 debt.
Bu-Tique LLC objected to general contractor Wilfredo Gonzalez discharging his debts, in an adversarial proceeding brought in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, White Plains, on March 18.
Bu-Tique claims that Gonzalez, who owns Mr. D. Handyman Inc. in Valley Cottage, is using bankruptcy “to hinder, delay or defraud” the salon.
Bu-Tique owner Kristen Colasurdo hired Gonzalez in 2018 to renovate her salon, then located on Palmer Avenue in Larchmont, for $34,000.
In 2019, she sued Gonzalez and Mr. D. Handyman in Westchester Supreme Court, claiming that he failed to obtain permits, used subpar materials, delayed work, harassed her and neighboring shop owners, and defaced the property.
Gonzalez denied the accusations. He stated in an affidavit last year that he got the necessary permits, did high quality work, and saved money where possible.
He claimed that Colasurdo routinely requested changes and exceeded the budget by procuring materials overseas; refused to pay a deposit to a plumber who installed a handicap-access bathroom; and instead wanted Gonzalez, who is not a licensed plumber, to do the work for free.
The alleged harassment was about a neighboring store owner’s objection to where he parked his van on the street, and there was no physical altercation. As to the defaced property, he conceded that workers may have sketched crude drawings that were later erased or covered by paint or varnish.
Ultimately, Gonzalez lost the case on a default judgment, because he had failed to answer the charges in time. In 2023, the court awarded Bu-Tique $292,853, including lost profits while the business was shut down.
This past December, Gonzalez and his wife, Raquel Barroso Gonzalez, petitioned for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection. They declared $546,300 in assets and $782,729 in liabilities, including a $350,550 debt to Bu-Tique that they list as disputed.
Bu-Tique argues that the couple may not use bankruptcy to discharge their debts. In 2023, the complaint states, Gonzalez mortgaged his property in Valley Cottage for $203,500. Yet bankruptcy records fail to account for the whereabouts of the mortgage proceeds, thus allegedly concealing an asset fraudulently.
Gonzalez had also attested last year in the Bu-Tique civil case that $26,958 in a bank account was savings from 40 years of work as a general contractor and that he needed it for his mortgage, his son’s college tuition and for upcoming major spinal surgery.
“I desperately need this money released,” he stated, “so that I can sustain the basic necessities of my family’s life and my immediate health concerns.”
According to his bankruptcy filings, he owes $66,756 in medical expenses.
