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Tough going for Go Go Gorillas: Entertainment center working to resolve claims by creditors

October 14, 2011|By TODD KLEFFMAN | tkleffman@amnews.com

Todd Kleffman

A handful of kids and parents milled about to the electronic gurgle of games inside Go Go Gorillas Fun Center around lunchtime Thursday, but the business has recently had to take steps to stave off creditors planning to repossess much of its entertainment and restaurant equipment.

On Oct. 3, Boyle Circuit Judge Darren Peckler signed off on a writ of possession ordering the sheriff’s office to seize dozens of tables and chairs and other restaurant items, along with the mini bowling alleys that are part of the center’s entertainment package. The items are owned by California company Leasing Innovations, and the center had failed to make lease payments on the equipment for several months, according to court documents.

Three days later, however, Peckler issued an agreed order stating that Grace Global Media, which owns the center, and Leasing Innovations had reached a tentative settlement over the equipment, valued at $160,000. That order halted the repossession, but the matter remains open on the docket until details of the settlement are worked out.

Jeff Gehring, a Lexington attorney who represents Grace, said Thursday the Danville company is working with its creditors and expects to keep Go Go Gorillas open while it weathers tough economic conditions.

“With the economic enviroment we’ve been in, business has been slower than expected,” Gehring said.

“The company does plan to continue. It’s dealing with its creditors and responding to claims in a business-like manner.

“The easiest thing to do would have been to let them come and get their stuff and just walk away, but that’s not the plan for this company.”

Another company, Bay Tek Games of Wisconsin, also is trying to get back dozens of electronic games and rides it supplied to Go Go Gorillas in November, just prior to the center’s grand opening.

Bay Tek won a default judgment against Grace Global Media for $86,000 in a Wisconsin court earlier this year after Grace failed to respond to a complaint alleging that Grace had stopping making payments on the games Bay Tek manufactured and financed.

Bay Tek was planning to repossess its games when Grace filed a motion in Boyle Circuit Court last month asking Peckler to set aside the Wisconsin court’s judgment, arguing that it does not hold sway in Kentucky because Grace is a Kentucky company that does not do business in Wisconsin.

A hearing on that argument is scheduled for Nov. 2 in Boyle Circuit Court.

Grace also lost default judgments earlier this year to The Advocate-Messenger for $11,000 and L.M. Communications (which operates three Lexington radio stations) for $14,000, after it failed to respond to lawsuits alleging it never paid for advertising to promote Go Go Gorillas.

The fun center opened in December in the old Goody’s building on the bypass. It uses a jungle motif as a backdrop for the cartoon characters the Avenging Apes of Africa, created by Grace as animal super heros whose mission is to protect endangered species. Along with a variety of games and other activities like climbing walls, Gorillas also has a restaurant that serves healthier, non-fried foods and six rooms for birthday parties and other gatherings.

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