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Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Ind. Courts - More on: Judge seals records in French Lick casino dispute without hearing

Supplementing the Grace Schneider report earlier today in the Louisville Courier Journal about a judge in Orange County summarily sealing all the records in a French Lick casino dispute, which I quoted in this ILB entry, the ILB has been authorized by Ed Feigenbaum's Indiana Insight to reprint this entry from his June 22nd gaming newsletter:

As we exclusively told you in our last issue, there were some financing concerns and other issues relating to certain internal partnership commitments that may not have been met between the two major partners in the Orange County casino percolating to the surface – and potentially affecting the respective ownership shares of the two key entities.
□ With respect to the financing matter, Indiana Gaming Commission members were told at their June 7 meeting that while the Blue Sky Casino partnership secured $270 million in financing via the bond route in a timely manner, the partnership did not meet the May 1 Commission-imposed deadline for securing an additional $30 million line of credit via a revolving loan required by the state. Blue Sky has apparently since closed on the $30 million revolver end of the transaction, but commissioners may decide to fine the entity at the September Commission meeting for failing to adhere to the original deadline.

□ The Indiana Gaming Commission was informed publicly at the same meeting earlier this month that the dispute between Blue Sky partners Lauth Property Group, Inc. and Cook Group, Inc. and their respective subsidiaries will be resolved via arbitration. Commission Secretary Don Vowels, the panel’s former chair, revealed that an agreement between the two partners required Lauth to transfer 25% of its interest in Blue Sky to Cook if financing for the project was not finalized by April 15.

□ “At this point in time there has been no determination as to whether there has been any change in ownership,” Commission Executive Director Ernie Yelton informed commissioners. “That’s still under debate.” “All I know is there are some allegations that the agreement between the two entities – not an agreement with the state of Indiana or the Gaming Commission – there’s a dispute as to how that would apply to control of the project, and I know that has not been resolved,” Yelton tells Mike Smith of the Associated Press. “One reason it was not put on the agenda is there has been no impact whatsoever on this project. None at all, so if that would ever occur, then obviously everyone would be informed and people would appear to answer questions.” The Cook Group’s Steve Ferguson declines to elaborate on the details, telling Lesley Stedman Weidenbener of the Louisville Courier-Journal “that the parties had decided not to discuss the matter in public,” as she writes.

□ Commission member Vowels, who chaired the panel during much of the earlier proceedings involving the original Orange County operating agent award to Trump Springs Valley, questioned why the Commission and its staff were not scrutinizing Blue Sky in the same manner it did Trump, citing the missed financing deadlines and the untidy quarrel between the respective partners. Executive Director Yelton explained that the Trump and Blue Sky circumstances were different: Trump had filed for bankruptcy protection, he observed, and was unwilling or unable to provide the State of Indiana with a firm commitment to complete the Orange County project, while “We have seen nothing that has impacted this project at all,” even with the financing delay and dispute between the partners.

This is a matter of enormous local, and indeed, state-wide interest. I'm told that reporters were even unable to confirm last week that a suit had been filed.

Although the ILB has had a number of entires about "secret dockets" in other states, apparently we do have some in Indiana also.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 20, 2006 11:11 AM
Posted to Ind. Trial Ct. Decisions | Indiana Government