Mid States Express Inc.

Personally, I do not care where anyone is working. I am just thankful to say who I am not working for....MSXN. The only question I have and care about is this: "WHERE IS MY INSURANCE PREMIUMS?"! It was not used to pay health providers!

It was not used as insurance so I want it back!!! Not to difficult to understand is it? Everything else is just a gripe session! Where is my insurance money? The money I paid every week!! WHAT DID YOU DO WITH IT MID-STATES...? NOT MANAGEMENT, NOT THE DRIVERS BUT THOSE IN CHARGE!! WHERE IS MY INSURANCE PREMIUM MONEY AND WHAT DID YOU USE IT FOR?

I know what they did with it...but I want to hear them say it!!! NO excuse can change the fact the money was collected under the auspices of paying insurance bills for those contributing, but was never used to pay any medical bills after 2006. This can be described in no other way than using the word fraud.

If this is not fraud, why have not my medical bills been paid? Simple question which was never answered while working for this company. Not answered by ANYONE! Good or Bad management.

I really do not care who was and who was not management. I do not care that any management is now helping us peons...nothing really concerns me other than...WHERE IS MY INSURANCE PREMIUMS?

This is the point that has to be driven home...not that we were treated poorly, not that we were wronged in any area. The issue of insurance premiums being paid by most of the employees, that totaled up into the millions of dollars, is the point, the issue that will bring about justice for all of us. This is the point we have to hammer home. The two weeks we are owed in back wages is clear and cut, but the millions we are out in insurance money carries the most weight and is the one that will bring about justice. Millions of dollars collected and used for something other than it was legally collected for...THIS IS THE ISSUE THAT NEEDS TO BE PUSHED...

I do not like bill collectors calling me for something I paid to have taken care of, BUT WAS NOT!!! This is the one issue that really angers me. The lost two weeks of wages, a drop in the bucket. This company ripped us off! No other way to say it!! I do not like it, do you?

They used our money to keep the doors open!! Don't get me started...a company with scruples would have SHUT THEIR DOORS!!! And done what was right and lawful. Not this one!!

 

You're 210% right.

 

Bill...I would also agree with you...but I dont care if the wages that are owed are ONLY a months worth of wages....Those belong to my HUSBAND!!!! I understand that you all want to know where your insurance premiums went...but my husband wants his wages!! Do you know what we could do with a months worth of wages? Well let me see..1st off we could pay back what we had to take out of our investment to get us buy until we got his 1st unemployment check. And we could use some to save for a rainy day..like having to put over 1000.00 into my car to keep it running...there is always something we could use the money for...so personally I dont care if its insurance bills that have to be paid or wages that have to be paid....my husband wants what he worked for and he worked #### hard to get those pay checks...He may be 59 years old but he could work the pants off anyone that wanted to try his route...which no one every wanted..3 hour drive one way just to make his deliveries in the rain, sleet, snow and ice...and he hardly ever brought back one peice of freight...so ya...we want ours too....I am done here....I dont think we will see one peice of money so I wish the best to everyone...I hope you all find good paying jobs...I hope everything works out for all of you. I am signing off.....for good...Later!!

 

I'm not sure if I missed someone else posting this...Mid-States management added another message on their website It's dated the 15th but the update date is the 28th

May 15, 2009


Mid-States Associates:


The US Bankruptcy Court assigned a trustee to the Mid-States Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, the trustee's name is Ron Peterson. Mr Peterson is with the law firm of Jenner & Block LLP in Chicago. Everything was continued and pushed out to later dates allowing the newly assigned trustee some time to come up to speed. Whatever happens regarding the wages is going to take some time. We are working with the trustee and hoping that the trustee will help the court to see that the bank needs to pay the wage claims. We visited with the trustee yesterday and it appears he agrees that the bank needs to do this, getting the bank to do it is another story. So, we are working on it, but I'm afraid nothing is going to happen quickly. The next court date is set for the 27th of May, 2009.


If you have not filed a claim with the Bankruptcy court for your unpaid wages and/or expenses you should fill out the Bankruptcy form B10 and mail it to the Bankruptcy court.


United States Bankruptcy Court
Northern District of Illinois
Eastern Division
219 S. Dearborn, 7th Floor
Chicago, IL 60604


The deadline for filing a claim with the bankruptcy clerk is 9/08/2009.


Mid-States Management

 

I for one do not blame the dispatchers, terminal managers, or for that fact any other office person, I blame the Hartmanns, who are the real criminals here!! Terminal mgrs like the rest of them got completely screwed, and even the district mgr for ohio, he was truely screwed, I do not believe they knew what was happening, I feel the Hartmann's told them what they wanted them to know, these guys along with the drivers and office people lost alot also, their checks bounced just as my husbands did, their insurance wasnt paid, their 401k's are gone just like all of the drivers. We are all upset, this was a huge blow to us all, instead of pointing fingers at anyone other than the real criminals (the hartmann's) contact a lawyer alot of them will take this on and you pay nothing unless they win for you, thats what we have done. I pray and hope for all of you that worked for midstates express, you find work, i know its not a easy thing to do in this economy, but just please realize, other than the Hartmann's everyone in this company suffered a big loss just as you did!

 

Okay, this is for information only and I'm only reporting what I was told this morning; whether or not what he said is true, I don't know.

I called Mid-States Corporate office this morning and asked to talk to somebody about the bankruptcy filing for past-due paychecks. The girl asked if I wanted to talk to Steve Hartmann. I said no I wanted to talk to the trustee, but she told me he wasn't in. So I told her I'd talk to Steve, figuring I'd just get his voice mail as usual. Lo and behold, he came on the line and we talked for several minutes. Here is what he told me, and you can take it for what it's worth and double-check with a lawyer, which I would certainly do:

He said that in order to get the last pay checks, the bankruptcy form had to be filled out and sent in. (And of course the deadline for that is in September, so nothing is probably going to happen for quite a while - my words.) He said that the bank is fighting them on employee wages. (Again my words in parentheses - I don't know what the bank has to do with it, other than they owe the bank lots of money too.) He said that the first to be paid after secured creditors was wages. They have filed a claim against the bank but it won't be heard for another month, then there will be appeal processes which will take quite some time. And the first appeal only goes to circuit court - which is pretty low-end yet.

I saw I was getting no where there (nothing really new), so I decided to ask about insurance claims:

He said that the new insurance was cancelled on April 15 and when I asked about non-payment of premiums since December 31, 2008, he said that was the first he'd heard about it and would check into it. I told him that we'd gotten notices from the insurance company stating that our doctors' visits this year were denied for non-payment of premiums. Again he said he'd check into it.

As for insurance under the old self-insured plan he said that 100% (and I could tell that he was emphasizing that) of the premium money was paid into claims and prescriptions. He said that 75% of the claims had been settled and paid and then asked me if we had anything outstanding. I told him that there were a couple I wasn't sure of, but we had several that we were still paying on, so they were not settled. He said that there was still a couple hundred thousand dollars in the fund, but it was blocked for right now due to the bankruptcy. I asked him why there was only a couple of hundred thousand when they'd been taking premiums from at least half of the 500+ people who worked for them at $40 to $60 to $75 a week. He then told me that they'd had an abnormally unusual number of high-end claims while they were self-insured. He said that they had 10+ people with medical problems like brain cancer. He said that they normally expected 1 to 3 cases like that with a company their size. I then asked if they didn't have a major medical plan in place to cover themselves for high-end cases like that. He said they did and quoted something like a maximum of $150,000 (per person I guess - which seems extremely low to me - I know that wouldn't even begin to cover brain cancer problems), anyway the insurance company "lazered" those people out after a year and Mid-States was then responsible for the rest of their medical bills - thus the reason for no insurance money - it was all going to 10+ high-end cases.

He mentioned that the Department of Labor was involved (so apparently they are being investigated by other agencies).

So, as I said, this is for information only - I'm just reporting my conversation with Steve Hartmann this morning.

 

That's what hubby heard as well about the forms. He was told to mail copies of logs, last pay stub (showing rate of pay) along with receipts (scales etc.) along with the bankruptcy forms. He did with a cover letter stating what was in the packet along with what was owed. So that goes out in the mail tomorrow. With the deadline being so far out there it seems like the pay check is going to be a long time in coming...

 

actually the newest insurance was cancelled on the 21st of december 2008, it was cancelled by the owners of the company!! this is the information i recieved in a conversation, with the insurance company , i had claims come back from december 2008 and it stated claim benefit filed when benefits cancelled, so thats when i called them , now these i didnt recieve until just this past month, and thats when i called the insurance company to see exactly what was happening, cause last i checked the premiums were still being taken out of my husbands check up to the last paystub he recieved which was in march sometime, as for the other insurance that the class action suit is on, none of our claims have been paid at all, i wouldnt believe anything the hartmann's said, its due to them everyone is in this finacial mess. hope you all have a good day!

 

I spoke yesterday with a very good friend of mine who is a paralegal and asked about filing the Bankruptcy B10 form. She said "Definitely file the form. If there is money, the bankruptcy trustee will pay you directly. Not sure if they will attempt to settle for a lesser amount. Depending on the amount of money they get, they may have to prorate each employee's pay. Does the form include a place for other compensation or monies owed in some fashion to employee? If so, I'd include the amount of the insurance claims."