Gary Jet Center wins round in lawsuit

The Gary Jet Center's lawsuit against the Gary/Chicago International Airport Authority took a step forward on Wednesday when a federal judge rejected all motions to dismiss the case and ordered it expedited.

U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen in his order dismissed various legal arguments brought forth by the airport authority and intervenor East Lake Management and Development Corp. Van Bokkelen also granted all sides the right to depose witnesses in the case.

That would appear to open the door to the Gary Jet Center's lawyers deposing witnesses such as former Indianapolis Airport CEO John Clark or perhaps even East Lake Management and Development CEO Elzie Higginbottom.

The Gary Jet Center's lawyer, John LaDue, said Thursday no decisions had been made on who to depose. He said the Gary Jet Center would still prefer the new airport authority, appointed in September, would grant the relief it seeks.

"The Gary Jet Center is not worried about competing with other fixed-base operators as long as it's a level playing field," LaDue said.

Higgenbottom's East Lake Management and Development Corp. intervened in the case because many of the Jet Center's allegations are aimed at its subsidiary B. Coleman Aviation, an aircraft maintenance and charter company that set up shop at the airport last summer.

Such operations are known in the industry as "fixed-base operators" and much of the lawsuit revolves around whether or not the airport authority has held B. Coleman Aviation to its standards for such operators.

The Gary Jet Center has been a fixed-base operator at the airport for 23 years and maintains it is required to adhere to all the airport authority's standards.

The airport authority in its filings claims B. Coleman is held to the airport's standards and has not been granted special privileges.

"We appreciate the business of both the Gary Jet Center and East Lake through B. Coleman," said airport authority lawyer Lee Lane. "And we want both of them to continue to operate on our property."

The Jet Center in its original complaint alleges the airport authority and John Clark schemed to grant unusual privileges to B. Coleman Aviation during last year's negotiations over its lease. Clark was working as consultant to the airport and led those negotiations.

Among privileges the lawsuit alleges B. Coleman Aviation enjoys are a lack of any requirement to collect landing fees, parking fees, fuel flowage fees and others that the Gary Jet Center must collect and turn over to the airport authority. The suit claims those exemptions give East Lake a huge competitive advantage.

LaDue said the lawsuit was only brought after attempts at negotiating a settlement with the airport authority fizzled.

"The beef here is with the airport authority," LaDue said. "East Lake is only doing what the authority permitted it to do."

East Lake Management and Development contends in its filings that it is the Gary Jet Center that has endeavored to gain an unfair competitive advantage. The filings allege the Gary Jet Center did so by first refusing B. Coleman Aviation access to the airport's jet fuel tanks and then filing its lawsuit.

The general manager of B. Coleman Aviation, Ben Toles, has submitted a sworn declaration to the court that B. Coleman Aviation collects all fees required by the airport authority. It does not collect fuel flowage fees on jet fuel because it cannot use the airport's jet fuel tanks. Instead, it does truck-to-truck-to-aircraft refueling, Toles states.

Source:   http://www.nwitimes.com