Good Dogs, Bad Blood: The Billionaire vs. Millionaire War Over a Utah Megamansion

A contentious battle between millionaire homeowners and their even richer billionaire neighbors involving an oversized mansion and allegedly disobedient dogs may finally be over.

After nearly two years of bitter litigation, a Summit County judge dismissed two lawsuits related to a proposed construction project by Matthew Prince, the billionaire founder and CEO of cybersecurity firm Cloudflare, paving the way for him and his wife, Tatiana, to build their dream 11,000-square-foot mansion.

The friction began in 2022, when Prince first proposed building a sprawling estate in Park City’s historic Old Town, modeled after historic area mining camps. In early 2024, the Park City Planning Commission narrowly approved the build. A group of 10 neighbors—including Eric Hermann and his wife, Susan Fredston-Hermann—quickly appealed the decision, but lost.

Hermann told Realtor.com® that he objected to the size and scope of the Prince plan, calling it "out of proportion" with Park City's historic Old Town.

"You will notice that Prince’s renderings of the project never include nearby structures—just trees—which prevents any visual comparison with the neighboring homes," he said.

It's unclear if that prompted what happened next.

In April 2024, Prince sued the Hermanns, claiming the couple's Bernese mountain dogs, two 100-pound canines named Sasha and Mocha, had "menaced" his family while traversing a nearby trail easement and "aggressively approached, chased, and harassed" his family, despite being what the American Kennel Club describes as a "good-natured" and "calm" breed.

He alleged the dogs had defecated in his yard and acted aggressively toward his 80-year-old mother and infant daughter.

The Hermanns disputed Prince's characterization of their dogs. Soon after the complaint became public, "Save Sasha and Mocha" stickers appeared around town, and a satirical skit about the canines was even featured in an annual Park City Follies charity event. The Hermanns fiercely disputed the claims.

Amid the public spectacle, Prince offered a candid concession to the Wall Street Journal in 2024: "I get that we’re rich a**holes, but at some level I’m also a father, and I have to protect my daughter."

More lawsuits pile up

Park City is a winter sports haven of around 8,500 people that was, until recently, home to the annual Sundance Film Festival. It tends to attract outdoorsy types, as evidenced by the town's Facebook group, which is dominated by posts about wildlife sightings. It's one of the country's wealthiest small towns; Park City's median listing price is around $2 million.

It's also where Prince grew up, spending winter breaks as a ski instructor at the local Park City Mountain Resort. He and Tatiana relocated to Park City in 2019 and purchased an acre-sized plot along King Road to build their dream home. They also purchased the town's newspaper, The Park Record. The outlet has extensively covered the neighbor dispute across two dozen or so articles.

A couple of months after the dog-related lawsuit, Prince followed up with another court filing against the Hermanns, arguing that a retaining wall on their property illegally encroached on his land.

Eric Hermann said the lawsuits were an attempt at "intimidation and harassment." At a public hearing about the home in 2024, Susan Fredston-Hermann accused the Princes of weaponizing The Park Record to "squelch our free speech" and sway public opinion.

"He has used every tool imaginable to squelch our free speech and that of anyone else opposing the project,” she said. “He has turned a once widely-respected newspaper into his personal megaphone. We believe Matthew Prince gets leverage through largesse and intimidation. He has made or promised major donations to nonprofits who otherwise would have opposed his proposed mansion.”

In December 2024, the Hermanns filed a lawsuit in Utah's Third Judicial District challenging the commission's decision. In it, they cited a memo from SWCA, an environmental consultancy group, saying Prince's proposal violated local ordinances on new construction in historic districts.

Per local law, new construction could "differentiate from historic structures" but must "be compatible with historic structures in materials, features, size, scale and proportion, and massing to protect the integrity of the Historic District as a whole."

The SWCA memo said, "the size, scale, and proportions of the residence and its component elements, including the shed roof and cantilevered flat roof, are reminiscent of a large-scale industrial building rather than a residential building."

In essence, the Hermanns and several of their neighbors were concerned about the planned home's vast scale and features, claiming the design "radically conflicted" with the "character of Park City’s historic sites and is inconsistent with the selected architectural style."

"All we have ever wanted is for Park City to have the same rules for all citizens regardless of their wealth and political power," said Hermann. "If you build in Historic Old Town, you must build in accordance with the Land Management Code and Historic Guidelines."

Cases are dismissed via consent agreement

In late 2025, Municipal Code SB262 took effect, allowing local legislative bodies to settle active land-use litigation with a private property owner through a consent agreement.

On Jan. 15, the City Council approved the Princes' consent agreement by a 3-1 vote. That, Judge Richard Mrazik said, rendered the Hermanns' previous lawsuits null and void.

"We are quite happy with the judge's ruling determining that the consent agreement as valid and creating new approvals for the development consistent with the administrative approvals to begin with," Bruce Baird, one of Prince's lawyers, told Realtor.com. "We are proceeding forward constructing the house."

Meanwhile, the Hermanns contend that the consent agreement violated the city's laws and their right to weigh in on the Prince house.

“The proposed consent agreement between the city and Prince would deny us our right to have our concerns heard in court,” Hermann told KPCW. “A consent agreement won't stop the court hearing unless all parties agree to stop the court hearing.”

"While we were disappointed by (and disagree with) his ruling, [Mrazik] dismissed our pending appeals without prejudice, so the underlying claims remain," Hermann told Realtor.com.

In February, they filed another lawsuit in Third District Court claiming that the city unlawfully extended expired building permits on behalf of the Princes. They are asking the court to overturn that decision because the developers have since altered the original plans by adding property easements. They're also arguing that the project no longer meets Park City's updated building height and mass rules.

Meanwhile, both Prince's dog lawsuit and the Hermanns’ challenge to the building permit extension head to court in December.

The Hermanns remain undeterred, and the dogs, they say, "are as loving, gentle, and sweet as ever."

On the building challenge, Hermann says, "Fingers crossed that the long-delayed discussion of the merits of the project and its approval will finally occur!"

Baird is decidedly less enthusiastic.

"I'm going to quote Winston Churchill about the D-Day invasion," he said. "'I can't say it's the beginning of the end, but it's certainly the end of the beginning.'"