The court has ruled that two local corporations and eight limited liability companies are in default for failing to respond to a lawsuit brought by the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments and the Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council.

The 10 companies were created by Linda Snyder, formerly Linda Hertell, a local businesswoman who made headlines last year when her mental health services business, Richardson Hollow, suddenly closed its doors. She recently married and changed her name.

Snyder is also personally named in the lawsuit, which claims she owes more than $124,000 from a pair of small business loans the two groups made in 2000. Snyder did respond to the lawsuit, sending the court a three-page letter admitting that she owes the money but denying she perpetrated fraud, hid assets or disposed of assets fraudulently, as the suit contends. The court has not yet ruled whether Snyder’s response is adequate.

The 10 companies were named in the suit because AVCOG and the LAEGC claim she set up a series of intertwining shell companies designed to keep her assets – including at least 14 properties in six counties – out of the hands of debt collectors. Snyder has repeatedly denied the allegation.

Although the court has said Snyder’s 10 companies are in default for failing to respond to the suit, it has not ordered them to pay anything. Any such judgment could take months, according to Rebecca Webber, the attorney for AVCOG and the LAEGC.

It was the second time Snyder had been sued in the wake of Richardson Hollow’s sudden closure. The state last year filed suit against her and Richardson Hollow on behalf of 126 workers who were owed more than $190,000 in back wages and vacation pay. A judge dropped Snyder’s name from the suit when the Maine Attorney General’s Office didn’t file the paperwork required to keep the complaint against her alive.

Richardson Hollow settled the suit in June and agreed to pay the money, though the company’s lawyer said at the time that he doubted the cash-strapped former business had the ability to pay. The state has said it plans to pursue the sale of any company assets.