In re El Comandante Management Co., LLC

In 2004, Housing Development Associates (HDA) (debtor), El Comandante Capital Corporation (ECCC) (debtor), and El Comandante Management Company, LLC (ECMC) (debtor) filed petitions for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code (code). After the filing, Caribbean Thoroughbred Racing Company, Inc. (Caribbean) (creditor) bought a claim on ECMC’s estate, becoming a creditor of ECMC. In 2006, Caribbean filed a disclosure statement and plan of reorganization (the plan) for ECMC, HDA, and ECCC. Caribbean had agreed to purchase almost all of the debtors’ assets. Under the plan, the debtors’ bondholders were to receive about $60 million of the purchase price. Caribbean would pay administrative claims, such as tax claims, on the debtors’ estates. Caribbean would also make a payment toward unsecured claims on the debtors’ estates. The code provided that any party in interest could file a plan once a bankruptcy trustee had been appointed and the debtor had lost its right to file a plan. The bankruptcy court considered whether Caribbean had standing as a party in interest to put forward a reorganization plan for HDA and ECCC given that Caribbean was a creditor of neither company. The code included nonexclusive lists of parties in interest, such as debtors, trustees, or creditors, but did not define the term “party in interest.”