Skydive Arizona Files Lawsuit Against Skyride

ELOY (September 14, 2005) - Skydive Arizona, an Arizona-based company that is one of the world's largest drop zones and skydiving centers, announced that it has filed a lawsuit against Cary Quattrochi and Ben Butler, the principals in 1-800-SKY-RIDE. The complaint filed in federal district court in Arizona alleges violations of federal law prohibiting false designations of origin, false or misleading descriptions of fact, and false or misleading representations of fact in commercial advertising. According to the complaint, the named defendants misrepresent the nature, characteristics, qualities, and geographic origin of their services and commercial activities. The complaint also alleges claims of consumer deception, unfair competition, and trademark infringement.

The complaint alleges that the defendants have more than 900 websites purporting to offer skydives and related services at locations in Arizona and elsewhere, which are allegedly used in a common plan or scheme to deceive consumers and to perpetuate a scam on the public. The defendants are alleged to have a website that misrepresents the defendants as "Arizona Skydiving," "Skydiving Arizona," and as the "Skydiving Arizona Center" in the State of Arizona. According to the complaint filed by Skydive Arizona, the 1800Skyride represent that their facility at "Skydiving Arizona" is "the busiest skydive center serving Arizona," that they "run multiple turbine aircraft," and that they have "multiple large screen TV's in our hanger for you to use and watch your video for the first time," when in fact the defendants have no such aircraft, hanger, large screen TV's, or skydiving center in Arizona.

Skyride allegedly have websites for fictitious skydiving centers in Phoenix, Tempe, Scottsdale, Mesa, Glendale, Gilbert, Yuma, Flagstaff, Chandler, Peoria, and Tucson, which are alleged to falsely represent that defendants have a skydiving center at each such location. Skydive Arizona has alleged that the defendants have one or more websites that include photographs of Skydive Arizona's aircraft which are misrepresented to be photographs showing defendants' aircraft. The complaint also alleges that many of the defendants' websites include a photograph of skydivers taken at Skydive Arizona, which is allegedly represented to be a photograph of the defendants' experienced staff of instructors, and the same photograph is allegedly misrepresented as the staff at defendants' fictitious skydiving centers in Green Bay, Wisconsin; Springfield, Illinois; Nashville, Tennessee; and Atlanta, Georgia.

The complaint alleges a nationwide scheme to mislead consumers with websites for fictitious skydiving centers throughout the United States, while it is alleged that the defendants have no such physical facilities, instructors, or aircraft at the locations represented on the websites. Consumers are allegedly provided with a toll-free number to call to make reservations to skydive at the defendants' fictitious skydiving centers, and the telephone calls are allegedly routed to a telemarketing center in Georgia. The complaint also alleges that the defendants on at least one occasion fraudulently diverted telephone calls from a legitimate skydiving center to the defendants' telemarketing center after the owner of the business died, and while the decedent's widow and children were attempting to sell the business.

Also named as defendants in the suit are the Atlanta Skydiving Center, Casc Inc., 1-800-SKY-RIDE, and 1800SkyRide.com. Skydive Arizona is represented by Sid Leach of the Phoenix law firm of Snell & Wilmer, L.L.P.

About Skydive Arizona, Inc.

Skydive Arizona has grown from a business established in 1978 by Larry and Liliane Hill, at a time when they owned a single Cessna 182. Operating under the name "Skydive Arizona" since 1986, the business has grown significantly, and is now recognized as the world's largest skydiving center. Skydive Arizona tallies over 150,000 jumps annually at its facility in Eloy, Arizona. Skydive Arizona provides state-of-the-art training, world-renowned instructors and staff, pilots, videographers and coaches, and has established an international reputation in the skydiving industry.

For further information, contact Betsy Barnhouse at Skydive Arizona, 4900 Taylor Road, Eloy, Arizona 85231; telephone: (520) 466-0493.

Also see:

The SkyRide Virtual Network Scam

What can we do about Skyride?