U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra is expected to approve the settlement, which would end a long-running lawsuit between President Donald Trump and members of the Jupiter, Fla., golf club. Under the terms of the settlement, lawyers who represented club members would get $1.9 million and most of the remaining money would be divided among the members.
On April 20, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra is expected to give his final blessing to a $5.4 million settlement that will end a long-running lawsuit between President Donald Trump and members of Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Fla., My Palm Beach (Fla.) Post reported.
Marra has already given a preliminary nod to the agreement, which was hashed out after Trump appealed his ruling that Trump had breached a contract with club members by barring them from using the club while refusing to refund their hefty deposits, the Post reported.
C&RB reported in February that Trump National GC had settled the lawsuit.
“The court finds that the proposed class action settlement is fair, reasonable and adequate,” Marra wrote in February after reviewing a preliminary agreement between Trump’s lawyers and those representing club members.
Since then, the proposed settlement has been presented to 65 former club members who joined in the lawsuit. “Counsel received calls from more than a dozen class members expressing their strong support of the settlement,” wrote attorney Seth Lehrman, who is representing those who balked at rules Trump established after buying the club in 2012, the Post reported.
Under the terms of the settlement, Lehrman and other lawyers who represented club members would get $1.9 million and most of the remaining money would be divided among the members. The three club members who led the lawsuit would each get an extra $2,000 for their efforts, the Post reported.
After Marra ruled in their favor in February 2017 and ordered Trump’s company to refund $4.8 million in deposit money and tacked on another $1 million in interest, Hirsch and Dwyer described the “wild ride” they had unwittingly embarked on, the Post reported.
“We begin by suing a major real estate developer, moving to a presidential candidate to president-elect and then, when the verdict came down, the president of the United States,” Dwyer said. “It’s been a bizarre journey.”
They declined comment on the looming settlement, saying they didn’t want to talk about it until it was approved. Attorneys for Trump and club members have also declined comment, the Post reported.
Trump purchased the financially troubled club from Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Spa in 2012 for a bargain price of $5 million after agreeing he would accept responsibility for the $41 million Ritz-Carlton owed members in refundable deposits, the Post reported.
Shortly after taking over, he announced changes in the way those on the resignation list would be dealt with. Under Ritz, club members could continue to use the club until their memberships were purchased by new members. Instead, Trump wrote: “If you choose to remain on the resignation list, you’re out.”
Club members who were on the resignation list said they were barred from using the club even though Trump refused to refund deposits that ranged from $41,000 to $210,000 and continued to bill them for annual dues that ranged from $6,000 to $20,000, depending on the type of membership they had, the Post reported.
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