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J James L.L. Barton. F.G. April 13, 2007 Page 13 of 14 6. The Count),and the Regional Board failed to file clainns in the bankruptcy case of Interstate Brands Corporation and so aggravated it,hatever neglect or lapse in information that is causing the Regional Board to seek to impose a cleanup order. As stated in the chronology attached to your letter of September 26, 2006. San Joaquin County learned in November 2005 that Interstate Brands Corporation had filed for bankruptcy and would take no further action as to the property. As far as we can tell. the County never tiled any claim in the Interstate Brands bankruptcy matter. And, the Regional Board received a letter dated September 27, 2006 from Interstate Brands Corporation that put it on notice of the bankruptcy filing. Another attorney for my client researched court files and I sent you a letter on December 20. 2006 with the particulars of the bankruptcy count, etc. I included a claim tiling form. and a draft claim on behalf of the State. As your attorneys know. it is important to file a claim in a bankruptcy matter as soon as one learns of the bankruptcy. But to our knowledge. neither the County nor the Regional Board has ever filed a claim in the Interstate Brands bankruptcy. Instead. my client had to incur the expense of(a) investigating the bankruptcy filing. (b)determining that claims could be filed, both by herself and by the Board, (c) preparing and submitting to the Regional Board a claims form. with supporting documentation. and (d)eventually preparing and filing herself a claim for the State and its agencies. My client filed a claim in the Interstate Brands bankruptcy in November 2006. The claim on behalf of the State and related agencies was filed on March 29, 2007. The failure of the County and the Regional Board to file claims in the Interstate Brands bankruptcy is inexplicable. The Board should have pursued Interstate Brands as soon as it learned of the insolvency proceeding. 7. Conch►sion To sum up,my client inherited this property. At the time. the property was possessed by a large corporation according to the terns of a 35 year old "triple net" lease which made the tenant responsible for all maintenance, taxes, and.insurance. My client took all reasonable and necessary steps under the circumstances during the time of her ownership to ensure that when the conditions on the property became known to her that Ehe tenant conducted response activities.