The members resigned years before the real estate billionaire bought the golf club and they gave up their rights, responded Herman Russomanno III, Trump’s lawyer. Donald Trump’s son, Eric, is likely to testify at the trial in defense of his father. Donald likely won’t take the stand.
Both sides agreed to waive a jury, so U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra will decide whether Trump must pay the club’s former members back.
Last year, he ruled the three club members who sued could represent as many as 150 members on the resignation list who hadn’t received deposit refunds.
‘Ask Eric’
In a deposition, Trump said Eric handled negotiations with the members.“I don’t really know exactly what it means,” he said of the letter he sent to members. “You’d have to ask Eric.”
Eric Trump said in a deposition that the only members who were turned away were the ones who hadn’t paid their dues.
“I think what was said in the letter and what we ended up doing were two different things,” Eric said. He’s likely to testify at trial.
When Donald Trump bought the club 16 miles north of West Palm Beach, he agreed to assume the liability of about $41 million in member deposits that were refundable. He held a meeting with the members in the club’s ballroom to offer a reduction in dues and the ability to use the membership at any of Trumps other clubs in exchange for members giving up their right to refunds. In the depositions, he and his sons said the structure of the memberships prevented them from investing in upgrading the club, which features a 7,531-yard Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course, as well as a spa, tennis, fitness center and restaurants.
“It’s a true luxury lifestyle,” Trump says in a welcome message on the club’s website.
The case is Hirsch v. Jupiter Golf Club LLC, 13-cv-80456, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida (West Palm Beach).