Talisker & Vail vs. POWDR : Park City eviction lawsuit....

[Highway Star]

This lawsuit is starting to get pretty serious.....I'm curious what sort of impact this will have on POWDR's operation of Killington, especially if this hurts PCMR's business:

http://www.parkrecord.com/columnists/ci ... -crossfire" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.parkrecord.com/news/ci_24035 ... JBarTicker" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/56834 ... s.html.csp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://news.google.com/news?ncl=d6vDFE2 ... lish&hl=en" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread ... -Agreement" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[hillbangin]

looks like good cop bad cop -

Lawyers send the eviction notice - and the owners says don't worry about it.

But Powder still has to hire lawyers to answer the notice.

What do they call 10,000 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?

Hopefully Killington is somewhat protected from this -

[Bubba]

looks like good cop bad cop -

Lawyers send the eviction notice - and the owners says don't worry about it.

But Powder still has to hire lawyers to answer the notice.

What do they call 10,000 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean? A good start? A small contribution to the future of mankind? Lunch for Jaws?

Hopefully Killington is somewhat protected from this -

[rogman]

PCMR will be "allowed" to operate normally this year by Vail/Talisker. Anything beyond that is in jeopardy. At best, it appears that Park City will be allowed to stay on at substantially higher rent, at worst (for POWDR), Vail will take over operations. Ultimately that would result in a PCMR and Canyons merger. I can't imagine POWDR sinking a dime into their flagship resort while litigation is ongoing, however there is no reason to think that will benefit Killington.

One thing is certain, John Cumming loves PCMR, and will do whatever it takes to keep it. In that environment anything is possible. Perhaps he'd give up/sell one of his other resorts to Vail in exchange for extending the lease. Killington? Probably not; it would take 100 million dollars to bring it up to Vail's standards. None the less, there are reasons to believe K is available at the right price.

[brownman]

Met up with a buddy recently that has lived in PC for a decade.
His 14 yr old son is on Olympic trajectory for slopestyle.
Their immediate concern is spill-over effect on Ski Team training facilities.

Anxiety level is pretty high there in Summit County right now.
He does believe they'll get it worked out for the economic well-being of the valley.

Utah is Alta, Bird, Powder Mountain, Moab, Bryce and a Tabernacle. Not much more.
Wish my Season's Pass money didn't have to support attorney retainers

[heiusa]

Park City, Utah, Sept. 12, 2013—District Judge Ryan Harris has ruled that a series of emails between Park City Mountain Resort (PCMR) officials and attorneys shows no evidence of an attempt to commit fraud as part of PCMR’s actions to renew its land lease, and he barred the emails from depositions that began yesterday. Nonetheless, he acknowledged it’s possible PCMR executives did attempt fraud when they backdated a letter to renew their land lease with Talisker Land Holdings.

In an unusual move, Harris reviewed the disputed emails in private, then declared that they were privileged attorney-client communications, and said they showed no evidence of attempted fraud.

PCMR’s lease expired on April 30, 2011. PCMR attorney Alan Sullivan has admitted that a letter dated April 29, 2011, which stated PCMR’s intention to extend the lease, was written on May 2, 2011, after the expiration of the lease. He termed the tardy letter an honest mistake. Talisker, however, claims it was a deliberate attempt to commit fraud.

The depositions that began yesterday are part of just one issue in the dispute. Next week, a hearing is scheduled to determine whether PCMR had the right of first refusal to lease the land when Talisker assigned its interest in the land to Vail Resorts (VR), as part of VR’s deal to lease Canyons.

A trial that could determine the validity of PCMR’s lease with Talisker—which is at the root of the PCMR-Talisker dispute—is not likely to begin until the latter half of 2014. The deadline for mediation or alternative resolution of the dispute was originally scheduled for Mar. 7, 2014, but it is expected that the inclusion of Vail Resorts in the issue, via its lease with Talisker, will extend the timeline by a number of months.

[hillbangin]

This is going to go on fa-ehva.

Unless the State gets involved and pushes for a resolution.

Can anyone imagine the Sheriff showing up and putting locks on the lifts and yellow tape?

[PinnacleJim]

Maybe Vail Resorts will merge with Powdr. Then we'll have $100+ lift tickets and cheap Epic passes.

[Bubba]

Someone's head has finally rolled at Powdr over this debacle.

http://www.parkrecord.com/park_city-new ... it-departs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[brownman]

Hope their CFO search doesn't include the former Beast CFO !
Though at some point, a CEO must grow tired of busing Kbase tables

[Finn]

FYI Chris Nyberg used to carry bales of hay to the u bars in the spring, drive a cat and groom and load gondolas. K has job share so management employees often times work in the food service.

[Bubba]

Here's a brief update on the lawsuit:

http://www.parkrecord.com/park_city-new ... ker-claims" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And here's a very good article from the latest Business Week magazine:

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/20 ... ins-future" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[rogman]

The "Business Week" article revealed some interesting points:

Vail Resorts had set aside $5 million to fund the ongoing litigation.

The land in question comprises about 85 percent of Park City Mountain—the upper 85 percent. The base area, which includes parking lots, lift-ticket offices, and retail, is controlled by Powdr. So are the water rights, without which it is impossible to make snow. You can’t run a resort without access to water or a base area. Neither can you run a resort without terrain.

In essence, though, they boil down to this: Park City Mountain continues to lease the terrain from Vail; or they sell or lease the base area and water rights to Vail. At the moment, both scenarios seem equally unlikely. A Vail spokeswoman says the company is still interested in finding a resolution, but Cumming says Vail has not been receptive to what he says were offers above and beyond the full market value, and he has been equally unmoved by Vail’s offers to buy the base, which he says were offensively low.

Bottom line, if Vail wins the suit, they don't really "own" a viable Park City. The article also expressed the notion that locals seem uncomfortable with the idea of Vail owning two of the 3 resorts, in that light, PCMR is pushing for a jury trial.

Spending all this money on lawyers is never a good thing. Given the situation, it seems unlikely that PCMR will see much in the way of Cap-Ex until the suit is settled. That could be a boon to the other resorts in the POWDR portfolio, including Killington. However, that's really just me trying to put a positive spin on a very bad situation.

[Stache]

...
Utah is Alta, Bird, Powder Mountain, Moab, Bryce and a Tabernacle. Not much more.
Wish my Season's Pass money didn't have to support attorney retainers

Why is it that 95% of the lawyers have to give all the rest a bad name?

[Stache]

FYI Chris Nyberg used to carry bales of hay to the u bars in the spring, drive a cat and groom and load gondolas. K has job share so management employees often times work in the food service.

Saw Diane (HR) and Mike bussing tables in K1 lodge last year and asked her if they were filming for "Undercover Boss".
She told me that thy had been approched.