Bankruptcy Trends in the Gaming Field
Update of Winter Conference Materials
Written by Rudy J. Cerone

For those of you lucky enough to attend the Business Reorganization Committee’s excellent CLE panel at the Winter Leadership Conference in Tucson, Ariz., on gaming, destination resort and hotel chapter 11 cases, or to have purchased ABI’s CD-rom of 2002 Winter Leadership Conference educational materials, panelist Rudy Cerone has been kind enough to assemble a “pocket part” to the materials on gaming insolvencies. Below is your free update, in “pocket part” format, to the article Bankruptcy Trends in the Gaming Field, originally published in 10 J. BANKR. L. & PRAC. 293 (May/June 2001).
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Third Circuit Courts Continue Broad Definition of §510(b) “Damages”

In a recent decision, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, relying on the Circuit’s decision in In re Telegroup, Inc., 281 F.3d 133 (3d Cir. 2002), held that claims for payments due under a make-up provision in a stock purchase agreement were “damages arising from the purchase or sale of …a security” and thus subject to automatic subordination under §510(b) of the Code.
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Preview of Coming Attractions

Stay tuned for committee member Dan Carragher’s excellent article on designation rights sales in chapter 11 cases in the second installment of the committee’s News at 11 column in the next issue of the ABI Journal. In the article, Dan discusses, among other things, the decision in In re Ames Department Stores Inc., 2002 WL 31911070 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y., Dec. 31, 2002) and its impact on designation rights transactions. Also look for member Michael Fagone’s article in Last in Line on the suddenly-hot-again topic of equity and claims trading injunctions to protect NOL’s, particularly in the context of first-day orders.

Also on the horizon is the 2003 Annual Spring Meeting in Washington, D.C., April 10-13. A number of educational sessions to be presented at this year's meeting will be of particular interest to Business Reorganization Committee members. The diverse educational program will include:

• Director & Officer Liability--Issues for the Distressed Company Executive
• Ethical Issues for Turnaround Professionals and Liquidators--"Who Do I Tell About the Missing Money?"
• The New World of Examiners: Their Power & Their Place (plenary session featuring former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, the examiner in WorldCom)
• Business Tax Issues--Impact In and Out of Bankruptcy
• Judge Griffin B. Bell on his prescription for reform of the tort and bankruptcy laws
• New Legislative Developments
• and MUCH MORE!

This year's meeting will also feature Bankruptcy--Nuts & Bolts for Young Practitioners on April 10. At this special one-day program, an outstanding faculty of judges and practitioners will explain the fundamentals of bankruptcy. Separate consumer and business tracks allow new practitioners to customize their educational experience.