DENVER—A federal jury awarded $1.1 million in damages Thursday to a company that said Amtrak thwarted its efforts to revive a ski train between Denver and the resort town of Winter Park.
Jurors found Amtrak breached an oral contract it had with Iowa Pacific Holdings, which hoped to offer trips during the 2009-2010 ski season.
Iowa Pacific argued Amtrak had promised to supply a train crew, but only weeks before service was to start, Amtrak raised the amount of insurance coverage Iowa Pacific had to get beforehand. When Iowa Pacific wasn’t able to get the coverage, it canceled the season and refunded about 13,000 reservations.
Amtrak executives testified last week that they had safety concerns about the train Iowa Pacific would use and that the companies never had a formal written agreement.
However, jurors found Amtrak breached an oral contract and awarded damages to cover some of what Iowa Pacific spent on equipment, advertising and labor for the ski train. Jurors found Iowa Pacific could have won more damages but that it failed to do all it could to protect itself from losses.
An Amtrak lawyer declined to comment after the verdict was read.
Attorney Robert Smeltzer, representing Iowa Pacific, said the Chicago-based company felt vindicated by the verdict.
Iowa Pacific was trying to revive a service offered by the Anschutz Corp., which had an agreement with track owner Union Pacific to run the train. After Union Pacific declined to get directly involved in the new ski train, Iowa Pacific negotiated with Amtrak, which has rights to operate on the track.
It’s unclear if Iowa Pacific will try to launch the train again.
“I never say never, but we would still have some obstacles,” Iowa Pacific general counsel Daniel Marko said. “It’s an important thing to the citizens of the city. I think they all miss it.”
He said Iowa Pacific is looking forward to re-establishing a positive relationship with Amtrak.
