SilverWing prevails in jury trial

SANDPOINT — A Bonner County jury ruled on Tuesday that the developer of a fly-in housing project detrimentally relied upon representations made by Bonner County officials.

The jury, split evenly among men and women, awarded the developers of SilverWing at Sandpoint $250,000 in out-of-pocket damages for relying on the representations, court records show.

The jury deliberated for about four hours before reaching its verdicts.

SilverWing argued it was misled by county officials about the location of a runway and the Federal Aviation Administration’s approval of a through-the-fence agreement that residents of the development would use to access airport grounds.

Although SilverWing was the victor following a six-day jury trial in 1st District Court, county commissioners also claimed victory.

SilverWing sought up to $20 million in damages, but came away with only a small fraction of that sum.

SilverWing sued Bonner County in U.S. District Court in 2014, but saw all but one the state law claims dismissed after the county moved for summary judgment. The county’s victory in federal court resulted in the award of $750,000 in attorney’s fees.

County commissioners said the county still comes out ahead despite the jury’s verdict.

“Offset against the $750,000 SilverWing owes the county for the county’ victory in the United State District Court, the end result after four years of litigation is that SilverWing still owes the county approximately $500,000,” commissioners said in a statement.

Efforts to obtain comment from SilverWing officials was not immediately successful on Wednesday. Efforts to obtain an audio recording of opening remarks by attorneys for the plaintiffs and defense were also unsuccessful on Wednesday due to a software glitch at the Bonner County Courthouse.