OGDEN — Ogden City has urged a federal judge to put an end to the latest litigation stemming from Ogden-Hinckley Airport’s hangar leasing policies.

In a U.S. District Court filing on Wednesday, outside counsel for the city argued that a civil suit by BSJ Travel over an airport security access badge was no more than a “Trojan Horse” trying to revive issues from an unsuccessful suit last year that alleged the city is illegally taking the property of hangar ground lease holders.

“This is tantamount to forum or judge shopping,” the attorney, Stephen F. Noel, wrote in the filing to Judge Dale Kimball in Salt Lake City.

BSJ Travel and its owner, Doug Durbano, sued Ogden City in November, accusing officials of deactivating his access badge in retaliation for his legal actions involving the city’s changed policies governing hangar leases.

Durbano said cancellation of his badge deprived him of access to his BSJ Travel hangar and assorted other activities at the airport. Durbano, an attorney, has been involved in at least three suits against the city, one representing more than 70 hangar lessees.

The city says its new policies aim to tear down some decades-old hangars to make way for projects needed to improve the airport’s fiscal viability. Two of the suits have been dismissed, but they are on appeal to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.

Durbano said in a December filing that although his badge has been restored, he remains “vulnerable to the possible vagaries and improper coercive behavior of the defendants in their efforts to harass” him. Badge actions against lease litigants “seem targeted and vindictive,” he said.

The filing alleged that city officials “have consistently and improperly used the issuance and renewal of the security badges for penalizing, coercing, or retaliating against its ground lessors for matters unrelated to security. Defendants have ulterior motives designed to coerce other behaviors unassociated with the security of the airport.”

City officials said Durbano’s badge had expired and was reissued after he met applicant requirements, which he had resisted.

On Feb. 6, Kimball issued an order denying Durbano’s request for a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order to guard against further badge actions against him. Kimball said the issue is moot because the city issued Durbano a new badge. The judge said Durbano could seek emergency relief again if the city “shuts off” his badge for a reason that is contrary to law.

With that issue out of the way, the filing by Noel this week constituted the city’s answer to the badge suit. It said the bulk of claims in the BSJ Travel suit mirrored allegations in the class action suit that Durbano and others filed last year. U.S. District Judge David Barlow dismissed that suit in July.

Noel’s filing said the lease contracts contain express protocol for any disputes over badges and that the city has followed the protocol. It also said the city has not deprived BSJ of its lease.

Further, the filing said, BSJ Travel has no viable property-takings claim because it has not been foreclosed from bringing a breach of contract claim against the city. Barlow ruled that rather than a constitutional rights issue, the lease fight is a “garden variety” contract dispute that could be better addressed in state courts.

The city asked Kimball to dismiss the BSJ suit and award attorney’s fees to the city.

Meanwhile, the lease controversy has drawn the attention of the Utah Legislature. Rep. Katy Hall, representing parts of Weber and Davis counties, this month introduced House Bill 367, which would require municipal airports to, upon lease termination, pay private party hangar lessees fair market value for improvements installed on leased property.

The bill has been assigned to the House Political Subdivisions Committee. A hearing has not been scheduled.

Newsletter