Former Hell’s Gate Airtram business partners embroiled in court battle

A storied B.C. tourist attraction is embroiled in a pair of lawsuits with two former business partners suing each other.

The Hell’s Gate Airtram, a suspended gondola crossing a treacherous section of the Fraser River about 50 kilometres north of Hope, was owned by local shareholders for decades until new owners bought it in 2014.

Now, in two civil suits recently filed in B.C. Supreme Court, the company’s former director is suing the owner and the company is in turn suing that former director.

In October, Liang Zhao, a former director and general manager of Hell’s Gate Airtram Inc., filed a lawsuit naming the company and owner Junping Yang, alleging the company failed to pay Zhao for services performed between 2012 and 2016 and dismissed him from his job earlier this year in “a harsh and reprehensible manner that constituted an arbitrary and wilful breach of the Plaintiff ’s contract of employment.”

The following month, Hell’s Gate Airtram Inc. filed a separate suit naming Zhao, alleging that while Zhao was the company’s general manager from 2014 to March 2016, he misappropriated funds from the company by “paying himself salary to which he was not entitled, (and) reimbursing himself for expenses which were fictitious or otherwise improper.”

No statement of defence has been filed in either case.

Calls and emails to Hell’s Gate management and lawyers were not returned. Reached by phone, Zhao declined to discuss the lawsuits.

A November 2014 article on the Small Business B.C. website describes Zhao (referred to as “Leon Zhao”) visiting Hell’s Gate in 2014 “with his business partner Junping Yang,” adding “that after just one week, Leon made an offer on the business and completed the sale in just two months ... They now have plans to create jobs and contribute to the local tourism economy.”

Before the sale in September 2014, the company was owned and operated by a group of local Hope-area shareholders for more than 30 years, including sister and brother Debbie and Brian McKinney.

In May 2015, Debbie penned a “saying goodbye” column in The Valley Voice, in which she wrote that her “goals and aspirations” were “no longer in alignment with the company.”

Brian, reached by phone Thursday, said his family was no longer involved with Hell’s Gate in any capacity.

McKinney had no prior knowledge of the lawsuits, but said he hoped for the best for the company and its employees.

“We rely on that attraction in our area ... It’s a historic landmark,” McKinney said. “We need it to do well. I want them to and hope they can turn it around.”

“We rely on that attraction in our area ... We need it to do well. I want them to and hope they can turn it around.” — Brian McKinney