Spokane Valley businessman William Tonani has filed for personal Chapter 7 liquidation in U.S. Bankruptcy Court here, listing assets of $1.2 million and debts of $1.5 million.

Tonani was co-owner of the now-defunct University Appliance & TV Inc., in Spokane Valley. In addition to University Appliance, Tonani also owned All Sports Bar & Grill, in Liberty Lake, which he operated through a company called T & S Business Ventures Inc. A new restaurant and bar recently bought the assets of All Sports Bar & Grill and the building it formerly occupied (see story, page A7).

The assets of University Appliance were liquidated after it closed last year, and the proceeds have been paid to secured creditors, says Kevin O'Rourke, a Spokane attorney representing Tonani. The recession had cost that business 50 percent of its sales to home builders, O'Rourke says.

The largest secured claim listed in Tonani's petition is for $298,000, owed to IndyMac Bank, for Tonani's home. The largest unsecured claims are $300,000 owed to Capital Solutions for the Home, based in Chicago, Ill., and $275,000, owed to Husky International Trucks Inc., of Seattle.

Both are identified as business debts. The filing also states that University Appliance & TV Inc. and T & S Business Ventures Inc. are co-debtors for some of the debts on the personal filing.

University Appliance was founded in 1980, and closed last August. It sold household appliances, including high-end brands such as Wolf and Sub-Zero. At one time, the company employed about 20 people among three locations.

Tonani owned University Appliance with Linda Tonani, who also has filed a voluntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition, listing some of the same business debts in her filing. The couple is divorced.