SANDPOINT - A resolution remains elusive in a civil suit against a man accuse of slashing scores of chair lift seat covers at Schweitzer Mountain Resort.

Schweitzer's suit against David Donald Markwardt was ordered into out-of-court mediation last year, but the resort's counsel, Peter Erbland, advised 1st District Judge Barbara Buchanan on Wednesday that a settlement has not been reached.

Buchanan urged the parties to continue settlement talks, court records indicate. A trial in the case remains set for April 27.

The resort filed suit against Markwardt last spring, alleging that the retired physician and skier used a sharp object to mar more than 60 seat covers on various lifts dating back to the 2011 ski season.

The suit seeks thousands in compensatory damages, plus punitive damages for outrageous conduct. The resort also wants Markwardt trespassed from the ski trails.

Markwardt, 63, was prosecuted criminally for malicious injury to property in connection with the seat cover slashings, but a Bonner County Magistrate Court judge ruled there was insufficient evidence to sustain the charges.

Markwardt became a suspect in the vandalism when resort officials began analyzing lift ticket scans and video footage from surveillance cameras, court records show.

Markwardt denied the civil suit's allegations and filed a counterclaim which alleged that he was being targeted by the resort for reporting Americans with Disabilities Act parking facility violations.

Schweitzer officials deny targeting Markwardt for reporting the ADA violations.