Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. opened a multi-day trial to determine the exact date it went bankrupt, a question that could threaten a $468 million claim senior lenders have made on the casino company’s cash and affect talks with lower-ranking creditors, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The dispute might not be as important to the judge overseeing the $20 billion bankruptcy in Chicago as it is to the company. Bankruptcy Judge A. Benjamin Goldgar said yesterday that he’s in no hurry to rule on whether the chapter 11 case officially began on Jan. 12, when creditors filed to force Caesars into bankruptcy, or Jan. 15, when the company filed a voluntary petition. A fight over the cancellation of an employee pension is more of a priority to him, Judge Goldgar said. The dispute over the start of the bankruptcy involves a technical point of law. Bondholders filed a petition on Jan. 12 in Wilmington, Delaware, seeking to force the company into bankruptcy. The company filed its own bankruptcy case three days later in Chicago. The earlier date would fall within a legal time-period for the lower-ranking creditors to challenge a cash claim by senior lenders, who are allied with Caesars and support its reorganization plan. The later date would protect the lender claim to the $468 million.
