Trump National to face trial in Florida

A judge has ordered Trump’s company to go on trial next month in Florida over a dispute about unpaid golf membership refunds.

Some members of the Trump National Golf Club Jupiter sued to get their money back after Trump allegedly changed the membership rules following his 2012 acquisition of the loss making venture from Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. for $5 million. Trump told them at the time  if they didn’t like the new rules they could beat it.

“If you choose to remain on the resignation list, you’re out,” Trump wrote in a 2012 letter to the members, “As the owner of the club, I do not want them to utilize the club nor do I want their dues.”

A federal judge has now denied Trump’s request to have the lawsuit dismissed and the case is set to go to trial in August, right in the middle of his presidential campaign.

The judge found the club didn’t breach the membership agreement on three grounds, but a fourth one remains in dispute.

“We view the ruling as favorable,” said Alan Garten, general counsel for the Trump Organization. The trial won’t be a distraction to Trump because he won’t be required to testify, Garten said.

Trump claims that members on the resignation list weren’t denied the use of the club, despite the message in the letter. Members who sued were only turned away because they had stopped paying their annual dues, he claimed.

The agreement between Trump and Ritz-Carlton had Trump assume responsibility for up to $41 million in refundable deposits, according to court records.

Last year, District Judge Kenneth Marra ruled the three club members who sued could represent as many as 150 members on the resignation list who hadn’t received deposit refunds. Trump has settled with some of them. 

In a July 25 ruling, Marra said conflicting evidence of whether the memberships were recalled doesn’t allow him to dismiss the lawsuit entirely.

“The Trump Organization broke its promise,” Seth Lehrman, of the lawfirm Farmer, Jaffe, Weissing, Edwards, Fistos & Lehrman, said in an e-mail to Bloomberg.

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