Resort, Three Pilots To Pay For Assault

A Sun Valley Lodge guest will receive $29,000 from the resort and three airline pilots after settling a lawsuit in which he accused the pilots of shaving his genitals and mocking him at a pilots’ convention.

In a lawsuit filed in Ada County, Horizon Air pilot Carl Koele, 24, of Boise, had claimed five older Horizon Air pilots attacked him in a dark storage room behind the Sun Valley Lodge on March 16, 1994.

Some of Koele’s fellow pilots considered him too young and cocky for his own good, said Koele’s lawyer, E. Lee Schlender.

“He is extremely handsome and self-assured. He is a blue-eyed, blond young American. I think there was some jealously there,” Schlender said.

A Horizon Air desk staffer lured Koele from the crowded banquet “Limelight Room.” The pilots “jumped” him in a hallway and dragged him into a nearby storage room, Schlender said.

Some pinned Koele down while others shaved off his pubic hair with a dry razor. When Koele complained of the pain, they taunted him and poured beer and champagne on his genitals as “lubricant,” Schlender said.

Sun Valley Co. was accused in the suit of providing ineffective security guards who stood by while dozens of people watched and took photographs around the open storage room door.

Horizon Air was dropped from the suit after it helped Koele return to work, provided counseling, rearranged his schedule and disciplined some pilots, Schlender said.

Sun Valley Co. Lawyer Nick Crawford said the company denies any wrongdoing and settled to avoid the legal costs of trial. He declined to say how much his client paid in the $29,000 settlement.

Pilots Andrew Hohner, Russell Stahla and Monty Ward, all of Vancouver, Wash., will contribute to the settlement, Schlender said.

Horizon employees Machelle Otson and Cory Mason, of Vancouver, will pay nothing because they contributed information, Schlender said.

All five were named in Koele’s suit.

Koele continues to work with Horizon Air.