A Third District Court ruling has cleared the way for two Park City ski resorts to head to trial over a disputed land lease. Their ruling, released on Tuesday, says that Park City Mountain Resort did in fact fail to renew their lease of the land owned by Talisker Corporation before it expired on April 20, 2011. While the court also dismissed several of the other actions Park City Mountain Resort brought against Talisker, it left the door open for the case to be taken to trial. Alan Sullivan, the lawyer representing Park City Mountain Resort, says that’s just what his client plans to do.
“We have alleged facts in the complaint that establish clearly, in our view, that Talisker should be prevented from its own conduct from claiming that the lease is expired and we’ll expect to prove those claims at trial,” he says.
Salt Lake City based lawyer John Lund represents Talisker in the case. He also views the ruling favorably and says he hopes it helps push the two companies towards an agreement.
“There’s a lot of clarity in that ruling that’s consistent with what our position has been," he says. "That does define the business realities.”
If the two parties fail to reach an agreement and the court ultimately decides against Park City Mountain Resort’s claim, Talisker, who also owns The Canyons resort, will take over the property. Currently, there is no date set for a trial.