OXFORD – The former president of now defunct Oxford Homes has asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to dismiss a petition by nine creditors to force the company’s liquidation in order to collect more than $300,000 in unsecured claims.

According documents at the Portland court, attorney Stephen Cope of the Cope & Cope law firm in Portland, has asked that the case be dismissed because it would be in the best interest of all creditors.

It is also requested that an independent examiner be hired to investigate the company’s books and make a recommendation to the court regarding the request for dismissal.

Creditors say the business owes them $318,476,000 in unsecured claims, according to court documents. It is estimated that that amounts to about 22 percent of the $1.4 million in Oxford’s total unsecured debts, creditors’ attorney Matthew Goldfarb of Goldfarb & Associates in Portland said.

In August, the manufactured home business on Route 26 in Oxford sold assets and limited debts to Eco-Building Systems, a limited liability company based in Boston. The purchase price was $300,000 in cash plus an assumption of Oxford Homes equipment leases, installment loans and tax obligation, its contractual liability for the completion of certain work in process and other things, according to court papers.

The cash proceeds of the loan were used to pay off an outstanding secured loan with New England Homes Inc., which financed a short-term loan agreement with the company that was used in part to pay off a loan from Northeast Bank, which was then demanding full repayment. The remainder was used as working capital by the company.

At the time, according to court records, the company’s production line was nearly shut down due to the lack of orders and working capital was virtually nonexistent. About 100 employees were hired locally at the company. On Aug. 8, Oxford Homes Inc. closed its business but retained its employees under a deal worked out with Eco-Building Systems.

Connell, a Norway resident who has since been hired as president of Eco-Building Systems, told creditors at the time that he hoped to recoup some of the creditors’ loses through new sales. But within weeks, after meetings between Oxford Homes representatives and the creditors failed to come to a consensus, the creditors filed a petition to force the business into Chapter 7 liquidation proceedings.

In the motion filed by Oxford Homes, the business owner contends that he was poised to make a first distribution to creditors in the aggregate amount of $137,582 within days of the filing for the involuntary petition. Oxford Homes, through its attorney, further stated in the motion that they believe the petitioning creditors are “under the misconceptions that the bankruptcy filing will produce value for creditors,” and that creditors would only be paid in the event of a bankruptcy. Instead, stated Oxford Homes, the bankruptcy in its opinion will only chew up a substantial portion of available funds and delay distribution for a year or more.

The creditors’ attorney was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

Oxford Homes stated in court documents that not only had it set aside money for distribution to unsecured debtors, but it had pledged to distribute its remaining assets to unsecured creditors and was prepared to pay 10 percent of the unsecured debts within days of a late August meeting between the debtor and creditors.

According to Oxford Homes, the meeting was not held due to scheduling conflicts and payment was not made after it received an e-mail from the creditors’ attorney stating the creditors were “not interested in meeting” and were filing for involuntary liquidation.

The creditors have until Nov. 5 to respond to the motion.

The hearing is set to begin at 10:30 a.m. Nov. 13 at the bankruptcy court on Congress Street.