In what has been described as an “abrupt” end to the Columbia Sussex/Park Cattle Co. lawsuit, playing out up in Douglas County, Nev., the former has paid out $40 million of an eventual $165 million and given Park Cattle the option to terminate Columbia Sussex’s Lake Tahoe Horizon Casino lease in 2011 — 29 years ahead of schedule. This is a staggering defeat for ‘ColSux,’ which had initiated the litigation and will be hard-pressed to spin this as anything but a debacle. Park Cattle also won the right to turf its Kentucky-based adversary out of the nearby MontBleu Casino Resort & Spa (formerly Caesars Tahoe) in 2018.
Given the “contumacious” nature ascribed to stubborn CEO William J. Yung III, he must have been advised that his case was going down in flames. It’s not in his nature to fold his hand so meekly. Without revealing anything specific, I can say that for Park Cattle to allow Yung to hold onto the Horizon beyond 2011 would require his company to turn over a new leaf of continental proportions, especially after Park Cattle’s court filings accused ‘ColSux’ of basically wrecking the place — both physically and financially.
Things would be a lot worse for Yung had the case gone to the jury and he’d lost, if one Park Cattle contention is correct. The landlord claims that $1.73 billion in debt related to Columbia Sussex’s Aztar Corp. buyout was attached to Wimar Tahoe, the holding company to which Park Cattle leases the Horizon. Given that Horizon-related litigation was ongoing at the time, this allegation (if accurate) suggests remarkable imprudence on Yung’s part. Had the Douglas County jurors told him, “Get out ASAP,” Yung would have really have had some ‘splainin’ to do to his debtholders, with whom his relations are already strained.
At least cooler heads prevailed in the strange saga of the Westin Casuarina and its … um … creative way of collecting a $57,000 convention bill (i.e., soak the attendees). After the wrath of Hell broke about its heads, ‘ColSux’ realized that maybe tiptoeing into your customers’ wallets — without telling them first, which would have required spending money on stationery and postage — wasn’t such a great idea and belatedly did the right thing by remitting the fifty grand or so it had run up on unsuspecting customers’ credit cards.
Give Columbia Sussex credit (if you’ll pardon the term) for realizing that its position was indefensible — ethically, at least and perhaps legally, too. You know what would have been even smarter? Not doing it in the first place! It’s a sad day when you have to congratulate someone for showing common human decency.
Turnaround at Trop? True, the Atlantic City Tropicana is coming off a horrible March, but merchants at its Quarter retail annex see signs of improvement. One tenant reports a year-over-year improvement of 40% while another sees the Trop loosening up on the comps. Now they just need to get people to gamble there, too.
