Judge Sontchi Orders Cordillera Golf Club Bankruptcy Case To Be Immediately Transferred to Colorado

This afternoon, Delaware bankruptcy court judge Christopher Sontchi entered an order directing that the chapter 11 case of Cordillera Golf Club, LLC (d/b/a The Club at Cordillera) be immediately transferred to the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado. The transfer was first sought by a group of individuals, who filed the motion both as individuals and as representatives of a certified class of club members. That motion was then joined by the Cordillera Property Owners Association, Inc. and Cordillera Metropolitan District, who also jointly filed their own motion to transfer venue. Both motions were joined by both Alpine Bank (the debtor’s secured lender) and by the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors appointed in the bankruptcy case. Both motions were opposed by the debtor and the debtor’s objection was joined by a number of individual homeowners and two trusts.

In its objection, the debtor characterized the key issues in the resolution of the chapter 11 case as “valuation, post-petition financing, and going-forward capitalization.” It argued that those issues were “grounded in the financial markets of New York and the Northeast U.S.” and that on-going litigation in Colorado was “at best peripheral to the central issues in the bankruptcy case.” Therefore, the debtor asserted that transferring venue to Colorado would only make the bankruptcy case more expensive and “significantly less efficient.” Moreover, the parties moving to transfer venue preferred Colorado because the debtor, according to its court filings, “will be hampered by negative public opinion fueled by unsubstantiated claims espoused by these parties.”

Judge Sontchi has now directed the transfer of the case over the objection of the debtor, as reflected in the order embedded below.