SAM Magazine-Boise, Idaho, Oct. 20, 2009-Homeowners at Tamarack Resort, hoping to secure a $7.9 million loan to fund skeletal operations for the upcoming season, had their day in court on Monday. However, it is far from certain that the judge will agree to the conditions necessary to obtain the loan.

Homeowners said they worry that lifts and other equipment could be sold to repay the resort's $300 million debt. Inmobiliaria Las Fuentes, S.A. de C.V., a Mexican-based company with indirect ties to Tamarack partner Alfredo Miguel, is willing to fund operations and protection of the unfinished village through next summer, but only if it is guaranteed repayment ahead of the existing creditors. That latter group, headed by Credit Suisse, is opposed to that condition and is fighting it in court.

On Monday, 4th District Court Judge Patrick Owen heard arguments from both sides. Without new funding, said Leonard De Los Prados, one of the homeowner group's leaders (and Miguel's personal accountant), "Tamarack will be sold as salvage instead of as a resort," according to the Associated Press. Credit Suisse argued that the homeowners have no stake in the facilities secured by the loan.

Owen said he will issue a decision soon, both to determine whether to allow the homeowners to intervene in the foreclosure suit itself (scheduled for March 2010), as well as on their petition for the $7.9 million loan. However, he said that there is not much a court can do to counteract the effects of the economic downturn or the state of neglect of the village. That wouldn't seem to bode well for their bid for funding.

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