Court rulings favor Maid of the Mist

10/4/14

Buffalo News – The Maid of the Mist is staying right where it is, at least for now.

The Niagara Falls tour boat company and its allies fended off two more legal challenges Friday in an ongoing battle with its competitor on the Canadian side.

A state appeals court in Rochester upheld two lower court decisions giving the company the right to build a boat dock and storage facility on the U.S. side of the Falls.

“It’s a complete victory,” said Brian G. Gwitt, a Maid of the Mist attorney. “They’re both unanimous and both completely reaffirm the trial court.”

It’s not clear if the two parties suing to stop the Maid of the Mist’s operation – Hornblower Yachts and the Niagara Preservation Coalition – will appeal.

Hornblower’s lawsuit sought to end the Maid of the Mist’s agreement with the state, a deal that allowed for the dock facility to be built. The facility was seen as essential to keeping the company in business on the U.S. side.

Announced last November by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, the agreement triples the company’s annual rent payments to the state and, over the next three decades, is expected to generate $105 million in revenue to the state.

Hornblower, which won the right to operate boat tours on the Canadian side of the Falls, claims it would have paid the state $100 million more than it will receive from the Maid of the Mist.

From Day 1, the company has argued that the project should have included an open, public bidding process.

The lower court judge ruled, and the appeals court agreed, that no public bidding was required because the new deal was only an “amendment” to an earlier agreement in 2002.

In a separate ruling Friday, the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court also ruled against the Niagara Preservation Coalition, another group trying to stop the Maid of the Mist operation.