A receiver in Lubbock is authorized to confiscate Joshua Allen’s personal property and sell it – except property protected under state law – in a case separate from Ferrum Capital.
The same goes for Allen’s company WTX WO, which used to be the franchisee of the Amarillo location of Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux before the Walk-On’s corporate office took over the location.
State District Court Judge John Grace in Lubbock ruled against Allen and WTX WO in July for more than $657,000 in a breach of duty lawsuit filed two years ago by Jeffrey Tait Crow and Raiderland Holdings (owned by Chance Britt). Crow and Raiderland claimed Allen and Johnny Qubty removed $3 million from the business causing it to fail. Qubty settled out of court before the case went to trial.
Allen and Ferrum Capital
LubbockLights.com covered Allen and another of his companies, Ferrum Capital, extensively amid criminal charges and lawsuits. Allen, Michael Cox of Lubbock and Brooklyn Chandler Willy of San Antonio face a criminal trial scheduled for next April on charges of conspiracy and securities fraud. A federal indictment against them said they used Ferrum to steal millions of dollars from hundreds of victims.
Many investors lost most or all their money with Ferrum. In some cases, it was their life savings, according to various lawsuits.
The following carousel shows our previous Ferrum coverage.
In our previous coverage on the Walk-On’s case (see the three links below), the Walk-On’s corporate office said via email, “We are unable to provide comment on pending litigation.”
LubbockLights.com reached out to the Lubbock location of Walk-On’s for this story and left a message. We also reached out to Allen’s attorney in the Walk-On’s case, Nick Olguin, seeking comments.
“We’re complying with the requirements of the receivership trustee. Mr. Allen wants to take care of business,” Olguin said.
The receiver, Lubbock attorney Max Tarbox, told LubbockLights.com, “I don’t want to say anything about this particular guy, because I’ve never met him. I’m not involved in the underlying suit. I’m just in charge of collecting the judgment.”
However, Tarbox explained the legal process.
Tarbox accepted the appointment as receiver which was filed on August 7. He said he sent certified letters to get started. But those letters came back to him Thursday as undelivered. He’s not sure why they were undelivered, and that’s part of what he needs to figure out.
Previous coverage
Getting started
Tarbox explained there’s more than one kind of receivership – one for a company that’s not properly managed and one for someone (or some company) that is the subject of a judgment.
Tarbox is the receiver for a judgment receivership.
“It may take a little while to find out what property is even in play,” Tarbox said.
“If I … specifically ask him to disclose all this stuff, and he didn’t respond or he responds wrongly, then that’s basically violating an order of the court. And I would seek court assistance in forcing him to answer those questions,” Tarbox said.
When someone like Allen is subject to a receivership, his property – with some exceptions in state law – is no longer his, Tarbox said. It belongs to the receivership.
“One thing I do, and I did in this case, is I file a copy of the receivership order with the county court. … That lien would show up where the court says it doesn’t even belong to him anymore,” Tarbox said.
The judge’s order said Allen’s home is exempt if it’s his homestead. We checked; it is.
The taxable value of Allen’s home is almost $1.4 million. Even if Allen ends up in prison in his ongoing criminal case, someone in his position can still have homestead protection under state law.
“If you leave a house with the intention of returning, you can retain your homestead,” Tarbox said.
The example Tarbox used was someone taking a temporary job in another city. The person still has the homestead when the job is finished.
Allen has other protections too – with court records saying, “Paychecks for current wages are exempt from this order.”
State law gives protection for personal property – $50,000 for a person but $100,000 for a family.
“It consists primarily of clothes and furniture and jewelry and a couple of cars and tools of trade and things like that. It does not include money or bank accounts or notes or stocks,” Tarbox said.
If someone exempts a vehicle, that counts toward the $100,000 cap. Social Security checks get protection from the law too.
The judge’s order covers a long list
Allen and WTX WO must give up: financial accounts, bank accounts, certificates of deposit, securities; real property, equipment, vehicles, boats, planes, safety deposit boxes or vaults, cash, checks; contract rights, intangible property and property rights such as internet domains, patents, copyrights and trademarks.
Allen and WTX WO were also ordered to turn over: bank statements, pass books, other financial records, federal income returns, franchise tax returns, vehicle titles, property deeds and deeds of trust, business journals, ledgers, sales tax reports, credit applications, all records of ownership interests, membership interests, and stock ownership.
More questions
Records from the Texas Secretary of State, as of December, showed Allen was a secretary/treasurer and director of Slam-Dunk Food, LLC, which has an official DBA (doing business as) on file with the Texas Secretary of State for the name “Walk-On’s Bistreaux & Bar of Lubbock.”
The DBA expires in 2026. None of the official state documents say how much, if any, ownership Allen has (or had) in the Lubbock location of Walk-On’s. It only listed him as an officer in Slam-Dunk Food.
When asked how that plays into Tarbox’s role, he said he does not have the answers yet.
In the Michael Cox bankruptcy case, which is related to Ferrum Capital but not the Amarillo Walk-On’s, a trustee negotiated a deal to get certain property turned over.
With that in mind, LubbockLights.com asked could Tarbox negotiate?
“I am not inclined to negotiate,” Tarbox said.
“All the property that’s not exempt or encumbered belongs to the receivership. He can’t give it away because it doesn’t belong to him anymore.”
There could be an exception.
“It’s up to me to decide if I’m willing to call it quits after a certain level or not,” Tarbox said.
Allen faces numerous lawsuits across Texas. We asked what happens if more receiverships are appointed. Tarbox has never seen that.
“I would presume it would be complicated. … If somebody else sued him and asked for a receiver, then I guess he’d have competing receivers,” he said.
In such a case, usually the first to make a claim has the priority, he said.
Clarification: Several references to the receiver have been clarified. The word trustee remains where appropriate.
