Caelus Inc., a Spokane-based software developer that waged a lengthy battle to stay healthy despite big fluctuations in its markets, has filed for Chapter 7 liquidation in U.S. Bankruptcy Court here.


The company, located downtown in the Paulsen Center, at 421 W. Riverside, listed no assets and liabilities of about $1.2 million in its voluntary petition.


The largest secured claim listed in the petition was $450,000, owed to the Internal Revenue Service, which has a tax lien on all of the companys assets, according to the filing. The largest unsecured claim listed was $446,000 in back wages owed to Glenn Dombroski, who signed the petition and identified himself in the filing simply as a company officer and director. The company listed no value for office equipment or furnishings because it says it gave all of that equipment to employees in 2001 in lieu of salary.


Neither Dombroski, whom a February 2000 Journal article identified as Caelus chairman, president, and CEO, nor Joseph A. Esposito, the companys bankruptcy attorney, could be reached for comment.


Documents filed by Caelus in Bankruptcy Court indicate the company had gross sales of about $690,000 last year and $705,000 in 2003. Dombroski, who owns more than 77 percent of the voting shares in Caelus, says in an affidavit that the company was forced to file for bankruptcy after the IRS served a levy on all of its customers, which effectively shut down its ability to operate.


Caelus made two software products for manufacturing companies. One was marketed mostly to mid-sized companies with annual sales of between $10 million and $100 million, and supported a range of manufacturing processes, from accounting procedures to inventory tracking. The other product offered additional features for remanufacturing operations.


Its not clear how many people the company has employed recently. It employed 10 people here in 2000, down sharply from earlier years.