An appellate court denied Caesars Entertainment Corp.'s request for a speedy appeal of an unfavorable decision in ongoing creditor litigation, which could heat up next year, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Court papers show the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Tuesday denied, for now, Caesars's request to appeal a preliminary ruling in litigation that seeks to hold Caesars to prior guarantees of billions of dollars of its bankrupt operating unit's debt. In August, Judge Shira A. Scheindlin of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan declined to quickly rule on whether a series of asset-shuffling deals last year constituted an out-of-court debt reorganization that harmed the holders of about $7 billion in bond debt issued by the Caesars unit. However, the judge's decision drew some conclusions that were unfavorable to Caesars, leading her to authorize the casino and hotel company to try to challenge those rulings at the appellate court while the bondholder lawsuits moved forward. But the Second Circuit declined to let Caesars's challenge to the decision move ahead now, finding it didn't persuade the court that there were "exceptional circumstances" present to justify a speedy appeal in ongoing litigation.
