Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Valley resident in $660M Hollywood deal

Ronald Tutor group buys Miramax Films

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By EXPRESS STAFF

A part-time valley resident who unsuccessfully sued Friedman Memorial Airport when denied the right to land his overweight VIP jet there is part of an investment group that has purchased Miramax Films from the Walt Disney Co. for $660 million.

Ronald Tutor, who owns a home north of Ketchum, is CEO of the prominent California construction firm Tutor-Saliba Corp., which reportedly has as much as $2 billion in projects under current contract.

Although some Hollywood film observers claim the Tutor group paid too much for Miramax, the movie company's library contains 700 films produced by Miramax's founders, Bob and Harvey Weinstein, that could be the source of ongoing revenues from repeat showings on TV.

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In his 2002 lawsuit against Friedman, Tutor claimed he was denied "constitutional rights" when refused permission to land the heavy Boeing Business Jet, a luxury version of the 737, because it exceeded the field's 95,000-pound weight limit by thousands of pounds. Tutor once threatened to order his pilot to land anyway, but backed off when Friedman officials threatened to ask the FAA to revoke the pilot's license.

In the end, Tutor's lawsuit and appeal in federal court were rejected in 2004 and he was ordered to pay $158,038 in legal fees and other costs sustained by the airport.

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