OXFORD – Two more New England-based companies have filed about $66,000 in claims against Oxford Homes Inc. in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Portland to recoup their money.

Merrimack Building Supply of Merrimack, N.H., and Nelson & Small Inc. of Portland are the latest to file claims against the company. Nelson & Small, a nationally-recognized distributor of appliances, heating and hot water supplies, claims it is owed $45,575. The building supply company in New Hampshire claims it is owed $20,626.

The two join seven companies from three states that have filed a petition with the bankruptcy court to force Oxford Homes into liquidation and recoup more than $300,000 in claims. The petitioning creditors represent about 22 percent of the estimated $1.4 million in outstanding unsecured and secured claims, according to their attorney, Matthew S. Goldfarb of Goldfarb & Associated in Portland.

A summons was issued to Oxford Homes on Aug. 29. The company must respond to the court by Sept. 27.

Goldfarb was unavailable for comment this week, but he told the Sun Journal recently that the action was initiated after meetings between the creditors and Oxford Homes representatives failed to produce a resolution. The manufactured home business sold some of its assets and a limited amount of debt to Eco-Building Systems of Boston in August.

Town Clerk and Deputy Tax Collector Ellen Morrison confirmed Wednesday that the $33,000 in unpaid property taxes of Oxford Homes has been paid by Eco-Building Systems. The town placed a lien on the property Aug. 22 with a 30-day foreclosure notice.

“It’s paid. There are currently no liens on the property,” said Morrison of the 30-year-old business located on 16 acres in a 44,000 square-foot facility just off Route 26 near the Oxford Speedway. Last year, the company Web site said it employed 124 people at the facility. Its current work force number, under Eco-Building Systems, is 90, according to human resources employee Donna Greenlaw. Advertising is under way to fill some labor positions.

This is not the first time that Oxford Homes has been in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. In 1994, the company filed for protection from its creditors under Chapter 11. That protection allows for a reorganization where the debtor maintains control of the business, unless the court appoints a trustee, and it halts judgments, collection activities, foreclosures and repossessions of property until a financial plan can be developed.

In 1994, 278 businesses, agencies and individuals from Maine to Indiana, Georgia and as far west as Texas, filed claims against the company in the amount of $4.3 million. Local businesses and agencies that made claims included Norway Savings Bank, the Town of Oxford and state agencies in Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

At that time, Oxford Homes owed the town of Oxford $8,380 and $25,408 to the tax collector and transfer station, respectively. Norway Savings Bank filed two claims amounting to just under $1 million against the company. Dozens of individuals from Oxford and the area also filed claims in varying amounts, averaging several hundreds dollars. The case went well beyond companies and individuals in New England.

Record Lumber Co. of Oxford, which filed for $4,015 in claims in the 1994 case, is the only repeat claimant in the current case. The owners of Record Lumber Co. have now filed claim for $14,226.

The 1994 case was assigned to Judge James B. Haines Jr., the same judge who will hear the current case.