From Idaho Statesman
Judge won’t let Ron Tutor fly to Hailey
By Staff writer
HAILEY, Idaho--A federal judge has rejected a California construction tycoon´s lawsuit aimed at opening Hailey´s airport to his Boeing 737-size jet.
Judge Lynn Winmill on Tuesday dismissed claims by Ronald Tutor that Friedman Memorial Airport was violating his rights by refusing to allow his Boeing Business Jet to operate from the single-runway field.
The order was greeted with jubilation late Tuesday by airport officials, who have seen their legal bills in the case climb past $200,000.
Tutor, chief executive of the Tutor-Saliba Corp. of Sylmar, Calif., has a vacation home north of Ketchum, in the Sun Valley area.
His Santa Monica attorneys, Bailey and Partners, filed the lawsuit last year after Friedman Memorial denied the business jet landing rights because of its maximum takeoff weight of 171,000 pounds and landing weight of 130,000 pounds.
The airport has a weight limit of 95,000 pounds. Tutor´s other jet, a Gulfstream III, weighs only slightly more than 70,000 pounds on takeoff.
“Plaintiffs have been able to freely use the airport in aircraft other than the BBJ, and Mr. Tutor has not been denied access to his real property in Ketchum, Idaho. At most, Mr. Tutor has been inconvenienced by the necessity of using a method of travel other than that which he prefers,” Winmill ruled.
“I can breathe again,” said Mary Ann Mix, chairwoman of the Friedman Memorial Airport Authority. “We´re so happy the judge saw fit to rule for the little folks.” |
