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The Mandalay Bay resort-casino wants a judge to dismiss a bankruptcy filing by the Rumjungle nightclub (shown at right).
Friday, April 30, 2010 | 10:53 a.m.
Related Document (.pdf)
Attorneys for Mandalay Bay casino-resort in Las Vegas are asking the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to dismiss the bankruptcy filing by the Rumjungle nightclub there, saying it was filed in bad faith and is a misuse of the bankruptcy process.
Rumjungle Las Vegas LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization on March 16, saying it needed court protection to prevent it from being evicted because of $1.1 million in back rent due the 4,328-room Mandalay Bay.
But in a court filing Tuesday, attorneys for Mandalay Bay said the "purported $1.1 million Mandalay claim is a fabrication made by Rumjungle in its hopes of circumventing Mandalay's contractual and state law rights."
Rumjungle and Mandalay Bay, owned by Las Vegas Strip giant MGM Mirage, have been locked in state court litigation since 2008.
Rumjungle claims Mandalay Bay breached the lease dated in 1998 allowing it to be the sole nightclub at the resort when Mandalay Bay opened the eyecandy sound lounge, which Rumjungle claims is a nightclub. Rumjungle also claims Mandalay Bay failed to send sufficient "comp" business to the club.
Mandalay Bay has counter-charged that Rumjungle and its sister business, the Red Square Restaurant at the resort, had previously breached their lease agreements.
In its filing Tuesday, Mandalay Bay said Rumjungle's problems relate to the recession and its lack of competitiveness with nightclub competitors that have opened over the years on and near the Las Vegas Strip.
"Like for virtually all other Las Vegas businesses, 2009 was a bad year for Rumjungle. Las Vegas was in the throes of the worst recession since the Great Depression. Considering that Rumjungle is a decade-old and outdated nightclub that has suffered continuing revenue declines for several years due to competition, it surprised no one that Rumjungle's 2009 revenues continued to decline," Mandalay Bay's attorneys wrote in their filing.
Mandalay Bay said business was so bad for Rumjungle that its revenue failed to generate sufficient cash flow to trigger any minimum rent payments to Mandalay. That triggered Mandalay Bay's right to terminate the lease, the resort attorneys argued.
"Now, wanting to hold onto the premises and hold up Mandalay's abilities to improve the property, Rumjungle resorts to the fanciful assertion that Mandalay's breach of the lease by operating 'eyecandy' is responsible for Rumjungle's revenue shortfall. According to Rumjungle, this conveniently allows it to remain at a below-market rent for the premises indefinitely," Mandalay Bay's filing said.
"Mandalay wants to exercise its contractual rights and retake its property. Mandalay has no interest in a reorganization and believes that, even after every other creditor is paid in full, Rumjungle's assets are more than sufficient to satisfy any actual debt owed to Mandalay. Plainly, Rumjungle has no interest in a reorganization, either. It has nothing to reorganize and is simply trying to use the bankruptcy process to stay in possession of the premises in violation of its contractual and state law obligations," Mandalay's filing said.
"Rumjungle's filing with this court is false. Mandalay has never asserted that it is owed $1.1 million as a debt. Mandalay has never demanded that Rumjungle pay $1.1 million for ... rent from 2009. Rather, as the lease unequivocally states, Mandalay exercised its contractual right of termination because Rumjungle did not generate sufficient available cash flow in 2009 so as to generate enough business that Mandalay would receive at least $1.1 million," the filing said. "The lease does not provide that Rumjungle is obligated to pay $1.1 million in ... rent. It provides that Mandalay may terminate the lease if Rumjungle fails to generate sufficient business that results in Mandalay receiving at least $1.1 million in ... rent," the filing said,
The attorneys for Mandalay Bay, Todd Bice and Jeffrey Rugg of the Las Vegas firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP, said in the filing that Rumjungle has plenty of resources to pay its real creditors and that the bankruptcy is simply running up unnecessary legal expenses.
Rumjungle has yet to respond to the motion that its bankruptcy be dismissed. The state court litigation between the parties has been transferred to the bankruptcy court, but if Mandalay Bay is successful in its motion the lawsuit will likely be sent back to District Court for Clark County.
I was barred from that dump for vomiting in the urinal, I used the line DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? And they still had the temerity to 86 me.
That place is a dump, but the chick in the picture looks GTG. She must be lost.
I have been there twice, both times the bartenders were rude and under staffed. $ 15 miller lite, ouch!!! and the $ 5 Dollar tip that I left insulted the bar tender. I did one round and bailed. We took our grand spending money and left. See Ya R.J. The food sucks there!!
Hmmm....been there once. Surly doormen, listless bartenders and not much more. Unfortunately there's no government bailout for nightclubs.
May the Rum Jungle toilet of a club disappear forever into oblivion...
you gotta admit, though...that "flame wall" on the outside WAS pretty tight in 2000, 2001.
"Temples of Trendiness" come and go. Rumjungle's days were over a few years back.
Is she looking for the pool? Is that dump still open? would have thought the health department would have closed them down already. Place smells like white trash and avon.
Agree, the place should be closed..very stand offish, let Mandalay force them out and turn it into its own corp owned bar! $20 drinks are so done! They still get it late at night, but only from the suckers that stumble in!
Rumjungle is outdated and poorly managed.. And $15 for a drink served in a plastic cup? What a JOKE!
The place sucked, period. Most nightclubs in Vegas do.
why is mandalay is going to take over
all the comment sounds like the reason tourist don't come here high prices drink and lousy food and bad service
The time for overpriced "trendy" nightclubs is thankfully coming to an end. This place just needs to be shut down. We prefer places like Toby Keith's (Harrahs) or B.B. Kings (Mirage). Great food, great music, friendly staff, reasonable prices, and no long line of drunk 20 somethings waiting to get in. The days of serving overpriced drinks to people who can't spend fast enough are over. People expect to pay more than at their local bar charges, but not 5 or 10 times more. Shut it down.
I can see why this dump is going out of business. I'm 55 years old and went to the RJ several months ago, ate dinner there, stayed for a little while after dinner and they threw me out cause I had (nice) tennis shoes on. They said it was against the dress code. I just had a foot operation and the doctor said I nned to wear soft shoes.I wore slacks and a button down shirt, so I don't think I was some sort of threat.It was so embarassing. I hope the RJ burns and goes to hell. Love, John
Gee....I get the feeling the place is a total overpriced dump.
I love spending $18 on a drink...NOT
(by the way, do you know the cost of a drink is $44 cents?)
Never been there, and it looks like I will not get a chance, no worries though, from the comments here it sounds like I did not miss much.
McCartney, A couple years ago, we stopped by Ruth's Chris on Maryland Parkway for dinner. After being seated, we realized we were the only ones in the place wearing Tennis shoes, I thought we should have stopped by the room first to dress "up" a little more. It was not particularly busy, and the service was excellent. I'm sure the waitress may have had concerns about whether we could afford to tip her. We did, (very well) and were never made to feel less of a customer because I left the Florsheims back at the room. Some places get it, we were cleanly dressed, polite, obviously tourists in their eyes, and made to feel 100% welcome in their higher priced establishment. (Next time I will wear the Florsheims and the nice clothes).
Talk bad about Rumjungle all you want. Everyone seems to forget what this place has done for Las Vegas. One of the last original nightclubs in las vegas. They set the stage for all these other clubs. Lets see, first to offer bottle service in LV, first mega club with many extras. Now guess what they are still standing. As for the high prices seems most of you want a bar or lounge not a nightclub. Hail to the origiinaters of Las Vegas nightlife.