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Larry Fila, Owner of The Fila Academy Declares Bankruptcy After Court and Jury Grant $540,000.00 in Monetary Compensation

Larry Fila, owner of The Fila Academy of Glen Burnie, Maryland, filed for bankruptcy on December 20, 2011, in the United States Bankruptcy Court.  The decision to file for bankruptcy comes after the $540,000.00 judgment last February entered by an Anne Arundel County Jury and Judge, in the lawsuit of Barfield, et. al. vs. The Fila Academy, Inc. and Larry Fila, Jr., in the control of the bankruptcy trustee, who is to be selected by the Bankruptcy Court.  The court-appointed trustee will then make efforts to fulfill the students' judgment.

The declaration of bankruptcy also brings to a sudden pause in the January 3, 2012 case of 39 more students who also claimed they had been defrauded, tricked and fallen victim to the Fila Academy.

The trial had involved some students who were initially part of the original Barfield case, but whose claims were then filed individually, and combined with a third claim  that had been filed against the school the school’s owner, bringing the total amount of students who claimed they were victims of a scheme by the Fila Academy and Larry Fila, Jr. to 42 students.

As originally reported in newspapers distributed throughout Annapolis, the first of two claims against the Fila Academy and Larry Fila, Jr. involved three individuals who brought enough evidence to a jury to prove that they had been defrauded by misleading trade practices at the facility, in addition to other wrongful conduct committed by both the facility and its owner. 

The school was allegedly improperly marketing itself as a "Paul Mitchell Partner School,” when it was not the case. The jury also discovered the school and its owner committed other unlawful trade practices, such as misleading the students by saying that "they could make as much as doctors or lawyers" even following orders from the State of Maryland that required they refrain from making such claims to students.