Christy Sports won the latest round in an ongoing legal fight over its ski-rental business at Utah's Deer Valley Resort. A federal judge in Utah denied the ski area's motion for a preliminary injunction that would have prevented the retailer from continuing to rent skis at the Park City resort until a federal appeals court decides the case.
“We think this is kind of a portent of things to come,” Tom McMahon, attorney with the Denver law firm Jones & Keller, which represents Christy Sports, told the Rocky Mountain News.
The December ruling by Judge Dale A. Kimball of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah is the latest twist in a dispute that began more than two years ago when Deer Valley told Christy it could no longer rent skis at its current location after the 2005-2006 ski season.
A federal judge in Utah dismissed a case filed by Christy in 2006. The retailer, which has rented skis next to Deer Valley's slopes for the past 16 years, appealed the decision in September and awaits the outcome of that appeal.
Deer Valley spokeswoman Erin Grady declined to comment on the details of the dispute, saying “we're still in the middle of the lawsuit.”
In the 2005-2006 ski season, the ski area in northern Utah's Wasatch Mountains began renting its own equipment in its midmountain village near Christy's ski shop. Christy Sports, which started in 1958 with one store on West Colfax Avenue, now has more than 40 locations throughout the Rocky Mountains.
While Christy's ski shop is on property not owned by the ski area, Deer Valley recently decided to invoke a deed restriction on ski rentals.
