Two Family Members Fight Schweitzer Sale Bobbie Huguenin, Jean Brown Cite Price, ‘Fraud’ In Protest Filed With Court
Two prominent Sandpoint residents want to scuttle a deal to sell Schweitzer Mountain Resort weeks after they signed an agreement to sell the ski hill to a Seattle firm.
The move could jeopardize the ski hill’s operations this year.
Bobbie Huguenin and her mother Jean O. Brown, members of the family that founded and owned Schweitzer since 1963, filed a protest to the sale in U.S. District Court this week.
They claim the sale price, about $18 million, is not fair value for all the property. The complaint filed Wednesday also said the sale is tainted by “fraud,” the family had been denied access to records, and that Judge Edward Lodge, who must approve the sale, is not impartial.
The two family members also attacked receiver Ford Elsaesser, a Sandpoint attorney, saying he should not have been appointed to oversee the sale of the struggling resort in its receivership.
The complaint asked the sale be stopped and Huguenin be placed in charge of the resort.
“To provide for the orderly management of the affairs of the business entities … the defendant Barbara Huguenin shall be permitted to exercise all management duties,” the complaint stated.
Elsaesser was appointed receiver for the resort last year because the ski hill is $28 million in debt. About $21 million of that is owed to U.S. Bank of Washington.
To stave off bankruptcy, the family, the bank and a judge agreed to place Elsaesser in charge of the resort and broker a sale to pay some 200 creditors. Elsaesser was surprised with the new objections since the Brown family specifically requested he be in charge. The family, including Huguenin and Brown, also signed the sale agreement that lets them keep a 10 percent partnership in the resort and allows Harbor Properties Inc. to buy the hill.
“It is difficult to understand this in light of the fact the agreement was signed by all parties,” Elsaesser said, adding that the complaint was at best “inaccurate.”
“There are numerous statements in the court filing that are patently false, including that anyone was ever denied access to records or the receivership was scripted by the bank.”
The family members were unavailable for comment late Thursday. Their attorney, Edwin McCabe, lives in Boston and could not be reached.
The family questioned whether the resort was legally put into receivership, partly because the case was filed in Idaho and not in Washington, where the bank is located.
McCabe also accused Judge Lodge of having a conflict because one of his family members had dealings with the bank or companies owned by the bank.
“I don’t believe this action is supported by the rest of the family, and I don’t know what the impact will be,” Elsaesser said.
The complaint could delay any sale to Harbor Properties, which also owns and runs the Stevens Pass ski area near Snoqualmie Pass, Wash.
The sale agreement was supposed to go before Judge Lodge about Sept. 8, giving Harbor time to ready Schweitzer for winter.
“This raises concerns about the impact on Harbor as well as operating the mountain this coming season,” Elsaesser said. “Without the transaction, the ability for Schweitzer to operate is in serious question.”
, DataTimes