After pledging to fight a $5.77 million judgment against one of his luxury Florida golf clubs, President Donald Trump’s company has agreed to pay almost all of it.
The Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter will pay $5.44 million to disgruntled former members’ to settle a class-action lawsuit, according to a filing Friday in federal court in West Palm Beach. Last year, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra ordered the club to return all the membership fees and interest.
Trump bragged during the 2016 campaign that he doesn’t settle lawsuits, though he’s done so frequently, according to court records. The Trump Organization, owner of the golf club, was due to argue its appeal before a federal court in Atlanta in May, according to court records.
"This is an exclamation point on a big win," plaintiffs’ attorney Brad Edwards said in an email.
The Trump Organization’s chief legal officer, Alan Garten, didn’t immediately return a call for comment.
In February 2017, a month after Trump’s inauguration, Marra concluded after a trial that the club breached the former members’ contract by denying them access and failing to refund their deposits.
The former members sued to get their money back after Trump changed the membership rules following his 2012 acquisition of the money-losing venture from Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. The members were on a list of people who had asked to resign from the club. They paid $35,000 to $210,000 in deposits. Trump and his son Eric initially said the they hadn’t changed the membership rules or barred former members from club facilities, but Eric Trump testified during the trial that he was wrong and some members were banned.
A judge must still approve the deal.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.
