Lawsuit claims Aviation Company at Chino Airport owes the County money

The suit, filed earlier this month, raises questions about a subleasing arrangement at the county-owned airport.

A lawsuit alleging financial improprieties by an aviation company at Chino Airport has been filed in San Bernardino County Superior Court.

The suit, filed Jan. 22, charges that the San Bernardino County Aviation Development Company doing business as Flying Tigers Aviation has violated parts of its lease with the county, the airport’s owner.

The lease requires that Flying Tigers Aviation remit half of all profit that is made from any property sublease. The sublease in question is between Flying Tigers and M.I. Air according to the law suit.

Apparently the sublease began in May 2014, and since then Flying Tigers has shortchanged the county by at least $1,000 a month attorney Robert A. Freeman said.

That would work out to roughly $56,000 owed to the county by Flying Tigers, but the true amount could be higher, Freeman said.

Freeman filed the suit Tuesday on behalf of Gil Botello, a San Bernardino resident who ran unsuccessfully in November for a city council seat. Botello is a concerned taxpayer with a history of fighting inefficiency and fiscal waste in local government, Freeman said.

On Thursday, Freeman presented copies of the lawsuit to each of the seven members of the San Bernardino County Airports Commission and its four-member staff, all of whom gathered in San Bernardino for their regular monthly meeting. 

Commission members discussed the lawsuit, which also alleges possible anti-trust violations involving fuel sales by Flying Tigers, in closed session. California law prohibits commission members from discussing the lawsuit publicly until it’s resolved, potentially a lengthy and expensive process.

Freeman spoke before the commission in a friendly tone, saying no one is accusing the county of having done anything improper. 

“We are not your enemy, we are your friend,” Freeman said. “We’re here to help you get the money that is owed to the County… We believe this was simply an oversight by the County.”

The lawsuit was filed after Freeman’s law office in Fullerton sent a letter to the county’s legal team on Dec. 20 suggesting that the matter could be resolved without having to go to court, Freeman told the commission.

“They responded, but it was one of those 11th hour things,” Freeman said. “And we were not able to arrange a meeting or get anything done.”

Flying Tigers is a fixed-base operator that provides fuel, hangar space and other services to owners of small general aviation aircraft. It has been operating at the Chino Airport for more than 15 years, said Michael Thayer, the company’s president and co-owner.

“A lot of crazy things have been said,” Thayer said when asked about the lawsuit.

He declined to comment further.

The lawsuit details Flying Tigers’ lease agreements with M.I. Air, a flight school that has leased hangar and office space from Flying Tigers since May 2014.

“The failure [by the county] to collect 50 percent [of the sublease profits] constitutes government waste and an illegal gift of public funds,” the suit alleges. However, it is Flying Tigers obligation to report and remit the profit.

Superior Court Judge David S. Cohn is scheduled to hold a hearing on the lawsuit in March.

The dispute regarding Flying Tigers and its sublease arrangement traces to March 2017, when it and one other airport tenant filed a lawsuit in opposition to the Planes of Fame Air Show, an annual event that attracts thousands of spectators and is a major fundraiser and public relations vehicle for the airport.

That suit, which was separate from the suit filed this month, sought to shut down the two-day event. It alleged the air show disrupts business at the airport, not only on the days of the show but also for several days before and after.

Thayer was one of the two plaintiffs in that suit, which was settled in May 2018.

He claimed that the Air Show, which remains in business, placed restrictions on his day-to-day operations and became more difficult to deal with every year.

In filling the suit, the plaintiffs were required to reveal the details of their subleases. Mr. Thayer produced a declaration which included details of the sublease between Flying Tigers and M.I. Air. Others soon recognized that those details violated County sublease requirements.

Those violations are the genesis of the lawsuit stated Freeman.