In re Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc.
United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware
534 B.R. 93 (2015)
- Written by Abby Roughton, JD
Facts
Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc. and affiliated entities (collectively, TER) (debtors) owned and operated the Trump Taj Mahal Casino (TTM) in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Members of the UNITE HERE Local 54 labor union (the union) (creditor) worked at the TTM. On September 9, 2014, TER filed a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition. On September 14, the collective-bargaining agreement (CBA) between TTM and the union expired. During negotiations for the new CBA, TER proposed significant union concessions regarding TER’s pension contributions and healthcare obligations. The union rejected the proposal and subsequently began contacting potential TTM customers to discuss the union’s labor dispute with TER over the CBA. The union encouraged those customers to boycott the TTM. TER filed a motion asking the bankruptcy court to enforce the bankruptcy code’s automatic stay of certain activities following the filing of a bankruptcy petition. TER asserted that the union’s communications with potential TTM customers violated the stay’s prohibition on any acts to exercise control over the bankruptcy estate’s property and any acts to collect or recover on a prebankruptcy claim against the debtor. The union opposed the stay motion, asserting that its communications with the potential customers had not violated the automatic stay. The union further asserted that its communications were protected by the Norris-LaGuardia Act (NLA), under which federal courts could not issue injunctive relief to prohibit speech that publicized the existence or facts of a labor dispute. The bankruptcy court subsequently confirmed TER’s Chapter 11 reorganization plan and then considered whether to issue a declaratory judgment that the union had violated the stay.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Gross, J.)
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