For those joining the story already in progress, the trouble began back in November 2008, when the Hualapai Tribe cut off operating funds to the Skywalk. It filed litigation in federal court in February 2011, seeking to terminate a 25-year management contract for the $28 million attraction, severing ties from developer David Jin. The tribe faulted Jin for failing to complete the Grand Canyon Skywalk, which lacked toilets and electrical insulation, and he countersued, accusing the Hualapai of embezzlement. Revenue sharing from the Skywalk – which should have grossed $42 million by that point – was also a bone of contention. Arbitration subsequently found that that volume of incoming cash was so great that it swamped the Hualapai’s money-handling systems, resulting in thousands of dollars going missing.
A year later, the tribe voted to exercise eminent domain over the Skywalk, declaring itself operator. Deeming the attraction worth no more than $11 million on the open market, the Hualapai offered that amount to Jin by way of compensation. Unsurprisingly, Jin was quick to countersue, arguing that such asset forfeiture would have a chilling effect upon the willingness of other private developers to do business on Native American lands, where they are subject to tribal jurisprudence.
Three Skywalk employees, interviewed by The Daily Miner, accused Hualapai bureaucrats of coercing them into turning over the combination to the Skywalk’s safe. Director of Operations Anthony Dobbs also complained to the newspaper that the tribe had removed the computerized cash-register system with a stand-alone machine whose receipts had to be hand-tallied at day’s end. He also charged that the tribe had sabotaged the security cameras meant to monitor the register and other areas.
Last August, the American Arbitration Association found largely in Jin’s favor, awarding him $25 million in damages and another $3.5 million in court costs. It faulted the Tribe for myriad reasons, including a "naked grab of management fees owed to Mr. Jin." According to testimony, "water, power, roads, and wastewater had been and always remained the Tribe’s obligation," and that the Hualapai had failed to pave the sole overland route to the Skywalk, despite having received $30 million in federal monies for that purpose. (Claims of defamation by the Hualapai were brushed aside.)
For its part, the Tribe maintains that the judgment cannot be enforced – at least not until the federal courts have had their say in the matter. Even then, the Hualapai intend to cite their sovereign immunity, should the ruling ultimately go against them. (However, the Tribe’s previous waiver of said immunity could come back to haunt it.) An exhaustive record of the filings and counter-filings in the case can be found here.
Since Jin’s primary goal in his litigation has been to obtain $100 million in compensation, it’s more than a fait accompli that the Hualapai will be running the Skywalk for the foreseeable future … a situation that appears to have resulted in the demise of the Skywalk’s website. Given the amount of money the tourist attraction has generated in recent years, it would seem to be in the Tribe’s interest to market it more aggressively – including finishing a visitor’s center that the arbitrator described as "an empty although nearly constructed shell [which] must supply food and beverage to Skywalk visitors from kitchens in Las Vegas and food trucks on site."
