DETROIT (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — The operators of Freedom Hill County Park have cleared a significant hurdle in their $250 million lawsuit filed against Macomb County, Michigan, as a U.S. District Court has ruled that Hillside Productions was entitled to the same percentage, 75 percent, of parking revenues that it has collected for about the past five years.
“The contractual language supports only one reasonable interpretation: that Hillside would receive three-fourths of all parking revenue collected at Freedom Hill County Park,” Judge Robert H. Cleland wrote, according to The Detroit News.
The county estimated that the revenue was worth as much as $600,000 over the past three to four years.
Macomb County could be in danger of a harder hit, as part of the lawsuit blames the county’s actions for the failed merger between Hillside and Palace Sports and Entertainment. Without the assistance of Palace Sports, Hillside was forced to scramble to put on its 2006 concert season.
Total damages filed by Hillside account for the $250 million claim.
“The position the county took last year absolutely surprised us coming right at the 11th hour in front of the Palace deal,” Hank Riberas, a spokesman for Hillside, told the paper. “So this was certainly a decision we expected.”
In 2004, Hillside Productions won a $31 million settlement with the town of Sterling Heights over noise, licensing and business interference issues at the Freedom Hill Amphitheatre. –by CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
