Vail Resorts shareholder Gary Peterson’s late August lawsuit is the third antitrust case brought against the company this year.
The Minnesota man says he is suing Vail and its top executives partly because of other antitrust actions that allege ski resorts are fixing prices and illegally bundling season passes.
If those allegations prove true, Peterson says he and other shareholders are entitled to damages. His complaint names CEO Rob Katz and the other members of Vail’s board of directors as defendants.
This year, skiers filed a proposed class-action lawsuit accusing Vail and its competitors Alterra Mountain Company, Boyne Resorts and POWDR of price fixing. They complain of punitive daily lift ticket prices, some nearly $400, designed to push season pass sales.
And a separate group of skiers sought a class-action lawsuit over how the Epic and Ikon passes bundle access to large resorts with smaller ones. They say it makes it difficult for other small resorts to compete.
Peterson’s August lawsuit is also a proposed class action and repeats many of the allegations raised in the other cases. All are moving through the U.S. District Court in Colorado.
The latest lawsuit is the only one of the bunch filed by a Vail Resorts shareholder.
It names individual board members as defendants at the same time another investor is seeking to unseat and replace board members.
A Hong Kong-based hedge fund has initiated a proxy fight to replace Vail board members at the company’s annual shareholder meeting, which typically occurs near the end of the calendar year.
Oasis Capital Management’s board nominees include Parkite and two-time Olympic gold medalist Picabo Street and former Disney CEO Bob Chapek.
Other pending class actions
Vail successfully fended off another proposed class action this year. It was brought by a Park City Mountain vacationer whose trip was impacted by the ski patrol strike following Christmas 2024.
A federal judge, also in Colorado, sided with the company in March to block the lawsuit claiming Vail misled customers about the strike's operational impacts.
The work stoppage stretched from Dec. 27, 2024, to Jan. 8, 2025. The day after, Illinois resident Christopher Bisaillon sued on behalf of anyone who skied or bought a lift ticket during that time.
But Judge Nina Wang upheld the terms and conditions attached to Vail’s Epic Pass. Under those terms, Bisaillon was not allowed to seek a class action lawsuit.
He initially appealed the ruling but dropped the appeal in May.
A 2020 class-action lawsuit is still pending, in which Vail Resorts ski instructors allege their compensation wasn’t fair.
A Vail spokesperson could not comment in time for this report.
Vail Resorts’ EpicPromise Employee Foundation is a financial supporter of KPCW.
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