Judge denies request to 'dismiss' Gibson- suit by Rick Brough A motion to dismiss the Monte Gibson lawsuit was denied last week by Federal District Court Judge David Winder. But the eight-page opinion offers good news and bad news for both sides. In his ruling dated September 15, Winder denied summary judgment for three of the defendants, including Park City Municipal Corp. Gibson, he ruled, has not had enough time to conduct investigations, or "discovery", into particular points of evidence. But these points aside, he added, the plaintiff had provided "little if any competent evidence" to justify a ruling against dismissal. And one defendant, Alpine Meadows of Tahoe Inc., was dismissed from the case for lack of evidence. After further "discovery," Winder said, the remaining defendants could renew a motion for summary judgment. judg-ment. City Attorney Tom Clyde offered this interpretation: "The judge feels it's a groundless case, but discovery was not complete enough. Basically, he encourages the defense to file again." Discovery is to be completed by December 1, 1983, under the present schedule, and a jury trial is set for May 29, 1984. Gibson's $10 million suit is filed against Park City Village and its developer Jack Davis; the Park City Ski Area (Greater Park City Company) Com-pany) and chairman Nick Badami; and Park City Corp. including City Manager Arlene Loble, Planner Bill Ligety, and head building official Ron Ivie. Gibson, a former Park City developer, de-veloper, contends his effort to build the Cornice project at the resort was illegally victimized and frustrated. Defendants conspired together, he said, because his project was considered con-sidered a competitive threat to the Village, being built just north of the Cornice. The city harassed his builders and enforced discriminatory zoning requirements, he claimed. Defendants have argued that Gibson's Gib-son's own mistakes and other circumstances circum-stances scuttled the project. Judge Winder cited two pieces of evidence in ruling for Gibson. One was an alleged statement by Nick Badami that Gibson's problems with Park City would end if the Cornice's commercial space was eliminated. Winder also referred to notes of planning meetings held by Ligety and staff. (The plaintiffs have stressed a handwritten Ligety note that said, "Jack doesn't want Gibson building as key building in project." The judge said these items merited more discovery. Gibson's Salt Lake attorney, Robert Sherlock, would not comment extensively exten-sively on the ruling, but said plaintiffs would ask for 14 or 15 more depositions. According to the written opinion, plaintiffs desire to take the depositions of Badami and Davis. City Attorney Clyde said it was unlikely further discovery would involve the city. "They've been through the city records so thoroughly, if there's a piece of paper they haven't read, I don't know about it," he said. (Despite Clyde's optimism that Gibson's case is weak, Park City still faces the costs of defending itself in the suit. At this point, Clyde said, the litigation has cost the city around $120,000 $150,000. Winder dismissed Alpine Meadows, saying there was no issue of fact tying the company to the lawsuit. The only connections cited were that Nick Badami was chairman of both Greater Park City Company (GPCC) and its parent company, Tahoe; and that Tahoe performed certain administrative administra-tive services for GPCC. In deciding for Gibson, Judge Winder said summary judgements should be used sparingly in complex anti-trust cases. Dismissal is inappropriate if adequate opportunity for discovery has not been provided, he said.