Here Is How MCA Cases Play Out In Maine.
I see Maine restaurant files every year, maybe eight or ten, and they all rhyme. A packed summer, two advances signed when times felt good, then the slow season arrives and the debits never blink. Fixed daily payments against seasonal revenue is the mismatch I make a living on. Here's what it looks like up close.
A Bangor restaurant owner called me in February with $105,000 across 4 advances. Summer revenue had covered the debits easily. January covered about half. The dining room sat half empty while almost a thousand dollars left the account every morning. He'd requested true-ups twice by phone. Nobody wrote anything down, on either side.
Step zero was proving the seasons. I pulled twelve months of bank statements and charted revenue against debits. The chart told the whole story: revenue swinging forty percent, debits flat as a ruler. I've won arguments with worse exhibits. This one practically briefed itself.
Then I invoked reconciliation in writing, chart attached. The contracts promised true-ups. The funders ignored both letters. That silence is worth money, because a funder that ignores its own contract walks into settlement with dirty hands. I log every ignored demand with dates. Logs become discounts. Silence has a price.
We revoked the ACH authorizations next, inside the plan, with stop-payment orders as backup. The bleeding stopped in a week. The restaurant stayed open through March on stabilized cash flow. Stopped payments piled into a separate account instead of scattering to collectors. That pile became the settlement fund.
One funder sued. We answered, served discovery, and noticed the collector's deposition. Under oath he admitted reconciliation requests never got escalated past intake. The transcript did more work than my brief ever could. That file settled within weeks at forty cents. The second funder read the transcript and folded without a deposition. I've lost leverage on seasonal files by waiting too long to chart the seasons. Early charts win arguments. Late charts just explain losses.
Midway through, the landlord got nervous and demanded three months' rent as additional security. We negotiated it down to a written assurance and a payment plan instead. Distressed businesses attract nervous landlords the way picnic tables attract ants. Keeping the roof secure cost one phone call and one letter. Everything in a dispute costs something, and the roof is worth it.
Both files closed before the busy season, no liens filed, clean books going into summer. Last thing: seasonal revenue is evidence, not an excuse. Chart it, demand the true-ups in writing, and make the funder explain flat debits. Flat debits against swinging revenue lose.