A skier’s slip and fall in the public bathroom at the base of Town Lift threatens to shut down the chairlift out of Old Town.
Pat Sweeney, along with brothers Ed and Michael, on Friday filed a lawsuit in Third District Court claiming Vail Resorts broke a lease dating back to 1981 granting Park City Mountain access to key land owned by the Sweeneys, along with the ticket booth and restrooms at the base of the lift.
The conditions of the agreement are supposed to protect the Sweeneys from liability in cases such as an injury on the premises, and Vail Resorts has violated that, they assert in the lawsuit.
The brothers, listed as Brothers III in the complaint, seek the termination of the agreement and all the easements that allow the lift to operate in its current configuration, along with attorney’s fees and compensation from Vail Resorts from a judgment in their favor.
This would mean the lift that has served Old Town since 1985 would close, at least temporarily, and the bottom of it would have to move off their land if the lawsuit were carried all the way through and the court sided with the Sweeneys.
Pat Sweeney said the brothers weren’t seeking to close the lift this ski season. “We’re not seeking an injunction or anything like that,” he said. But next ski season could be a problem if the brothers prevail.
He said they don’t wish to cause the lift to close, but they can’t continue with Vail Resorts this way.
Deirdra Walsh, vice president and chief operating officer of Park City Mountain, expressed more confidence about the lift’s future.
“Park City Mountain is proud to operate Town Lift, a one-of-a-kind portal from Main Street to America’s largest resort,” she said. “Town Lift will continue to operate now and into the future through our longstanding and long-term rights in the property. We have valued our relationship with the Sweeney family and complied with and respected our agreements related to the Town Lift Plaza.”
She said Town Lift in the meantime will begin daily operations in mid-December.
Park City Municipal’s purchase of Treasure Hill land, including along the lift’s course, from the Sweeneys in 2019 brings the city’s interests into the dispute, as well, though it is not a party in this litigation.
Vail Resorts, through Park City attorney Adam Strachan, has argued that its umbrella insurance covering all its lease agreements would also cover litigation such as from the skier accident in the Town Lift restrooms in February 2023, and does not violate their agreement for the Old Town lift.
Sweeney said they were not notified that Vail Resorts had turned to self insurance, which he characterized as “no insurance,” and a violation of the agreement on its own.
On Oct. 16, Strachan wrote the brothers that Vail Resorts “will agree to defend and indemnify Brothers III, LLC (“Brothers III”) in the Miller litigation on condition that acceptance of the tender is without prejudice to PCM, and specifically, does not prejudice or waive any rights PCM has or may obtain to cross-claim and/or apportion fault against Brothers III in the Miller litigation.”
Strachan wrote in the letter that the company’s insurance is “structured in a way that it applies corporation-wide to many of Vail Resorts’ numerous leases and agreements without the need to individually specify and schedule each landlord, tenant and lease agreement.”
“Vail Resorts cannot change its complex insurance structure,” he added, “and so PCM would like to resolve any lingering concerns by proposing an amendment to the insurance and/or indemnity provisions ….”
The Sweeneys aren’t buying it, and the lease agreement itself states that the insurance for everything the lease covers must be “kept in force during the term of this agreement, general liability insurance in an insurance company satisfactory to the lessors.”
According to the Brothers III complaint, a skier named Dina Miller slipped and fell while walking in her ski boots in the restroom on Feb. 6, 2023, and sued Vail Resorts and the brothers for negligence this year, on April 26.
The Brothers III tendered a claim in February to Vail Resorts for defense and indemnification from Miller’s claims, in line with the lease agreement. Vail Resorts’ counsel denied their claim, they said.
The brothers reminded Vail Resorts about the lease agreement and tried again with the claim.
Then Aug. 15, the Brothers III sent Vail Resorts a notice of default of the 1981 agreement.
Strachan replied to them Sept. 12, asserting that Vail Resorts was not in default and that the company’s insurance in essence was in line with the agreement.
Then his Oct. 16 letter offered to defend and indemnify Brothers III, with the caveat about keeping options open in the Miller suit to assign fault to the landlords.
The brothers said in the complaint that the deadline for Vail Resorts to cure the defaults had passed Sept. 16. And they filed the lawsuit Friday.
“We don’t want to shut down the lift,” Sweeney reiterated. “But we’re just done. We’re separating ourselves from Vail.”