(WisBusiness) TUES News Summary — 2 Dec. 2008

From WisBusiness.com …

— The nation’s economy may be in the tank, but business at the Kalahari Resort in the Wisconsin Dells and its counterpart in Sandusky, Ohio remains solid.

That’s the word from Todd Nelson, owner and president of the African-themed Kalahari water parks. The Ohio property gets 7 million visitors a year, more than twice as many as the Dells resort.

Business is so good, in fact, that the Dells’ Kalahari will open a 108,000-square-foot entertainment “family fun” center on Dec. 19 and hire 65 workers to staff it. With the new employees, the total workforce will rise to 1,100.

The project cost $20 million to build, he said.

The main downside to the recession, said a frustrated Nelson, is that the accompanying credit crunch is hindering plans to build a third resort in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

“Knock on wood, existing business is very strong,” said Nelson, who opened the Dells Kalahari in 2000. The Ohio facility opened in 2005.

“In fact, we find that the harder the economic times, the better we do,” often drawing the same families back three or four times a year, he said.

Unlike more expensive vacations that require flying to Florida, the Rockies or California, Nelson said many Midwestern families are willing to drive several hundred miles on a tank of gas and stay several nights for a mini-vacation in these trying times.

Read more and listen to the interview with Nelson:

http://www.wisbusiness.com/index.iml?Article=142627

— The state Supreme Court today ruled in favor of a pair of business owners who sued the former owner of their business over the violation of a non-compete clause and tradename infringement.

In 2000 Scott and Steven Statz purchased D.L. Anderson Marine Contractors from owner and founder Donald Anderson. The purchase agreement included a non-compete clause, which the Statzes contend Anderson violated several years later.

The court’s decision also found the jury’s initial decision to grant $235,000 in awards to the Statzes was proper, reversing an appeals court ruling.

“We are satisfied that the evidence is sufficient to support the compensatory and punitive damage awards, and we reverse the decision of the court of appeals in regard to those matters,”Judge Patrick Crooks wrote in his decision.

The court also remanded the case to the appeals court, asking that court to determine whether Anderson owes the Statzes for attorney fees incurred during the appeals process.

See the entire decision:

http://www.wicourts.gov/sc/opinion/DisplayDocument.pdf?content=pdf&seqNo=34771

— The Wisconsin Biotechnology & Medical Device Association is holding its annual meeting this afternoon in Madison.

The meeting includes a panel discussion with representatives of the Wisconsin Genomics Initiative plus a presentation from Ross Bjella, president of DDN. DDN is a provider of outsourced services to the life science industry.

See more on the meeting:
http://www.wisbiomed.org/events/index.php?category_id=4171

See background on Bjella’s talk:
http://www.wisbusiness.com/index.iml?Article=142633

— The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin is moving forward with its lawsuit seeking to halt federal action on its proposed off-reservation casino in Kenosha.

That’s despite a judge’s decision to deny the tribe a temporary restraining order barring the Interior Department from issuing its ruling.

Following a 10-minute telephone conference on Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge William Griesbach ruled against the tribe’s request to temporarily block action on the application. In denying the temporary restraining order, Griesbach said there isn’t a likelihood of success on the merits of the case given the Bureau of Indian Affairs has yet to take final action on the application and that the tribe failed to show it would suffer irreparable harm should its request not be granted

The tribe maintains that Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has a personal bias against off-reservation gaming and intends to deny the Menominee’s application without respect to its merits.

“While we respect his decision, we were disappointed and will continue our challenge in the court and, if necessary, with the new administration,” casino project spokesman Evan Zeppos wrote in an e-mail. “Our case against the government as filed in federal court will move forward, and we’ll aggressively litigate it in an effort to prevent an unjust decision that makes a mockery of the law.”

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