The payout of $5.45 million is more than 94% of what a U.S. District Judge ordered last February. The club had been scheduled to argue an appeal of that ruling in May, but a lawyer for the former club members who had resigned and been denied their refunds proclaimed, “In our view, the class prevailed.”
Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Fla. and the Trump Organization agreed on February 23rd to pay $5.45 million to settle claims by former members that the Trump entities had wrongfully refused to refund their deposits when they wanted to resign from the club, Reuters reported.
The payout is more than 94 percent of the $5.77 million that U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra, who must approve the settlement, had ordered the club to pay last February, Reuters reported.
Lawyers for the golf club and the Trump Organization did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
The club had been scheduled to argue its appeal of Marra’s ruling in May, court records show.
“In our view, the class prevailed,” Brad Edwards, a lawyer for the former club members, said in an e-mail, Reuters reported.
The lawsuit began after membership rules for the club were changed after the Trump Organization had acquired the Jupiter property from Ritz-Carlton in November 2012.
Under the club’s old rules, members who wanted to resign could keep playing golf until their replacements were found.
But Donald Trump declared in a letter after acquiring the Jupiter property that “as the owner of the club” he did not want them using the club, and “you’re out,” Reuters reported.
Judge Marra, in his February 2017 ruling, said this served to cancel the memberships, justifying a return of $4.85 million of deposits to 65 members, plus interest.
In court papers filed with the settlement, the plaintiffs’ lawyers said the former members would recoup about 71 percent of their deposits, after deducting legal fees and expenses, Reuters reported.
The lawyers called the settlement “fundamentally fair, reasonable, and adequate.”
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