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posted by martyb on Monday November 21 2016, @12:33PM   Printer-friendly
from the never-say-"never" dept.

Courthouse News reports

President-elect Donald Trump will pay [$21 million,] the bulk of a $25 million class action settlement, to students who sued the businessman-turned-world leader nearly seven years ago in California, just days before the first San Diego case was set to go to trial.

The class attorneys told U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel at a hearing in San Diego federal court [November 18] that all 7,000 class members in the two San Diego cases--Low v. Trump University and Cohen v. Trump--would get at least half if not all of what they spent on a Trump University real estate education. Attorney Jason Forge said they were able to "maximize recovery" for Trump University students by waiving their attorney's fees and litigating the case on behalf of the students for free.

[...] Class attorney Rachel Jensen said the students can finally "pay off their credit cards and move on with their lives".

[...] The Low case included Trump University students in California, New York, and Florida, who sued Trump in 2010 over claims he defrauded them when they invested up to $35,000 to learn insider real estate secrets from instructors purportedly handpicked by Trump. The president-elect turned out to have little involvement in the school and his attorneys said he relied on "sales puffery" common in advertising to capitalize on Trump's name.

New York's Attorney General followed suit, suing Trump University in 2013. At the heart of that case was the title "university", which New York's Department of Education had warned the real estate school it could not use because it was not an accredited institution.

[Continues...]

The Christian Science Monitor continues:

If Mr. Trump had to stand trial in the Trump University case scheduled for late November, it would have been the first time in history that a president-elect gave testimony in a lawsuit. On Friday, Trump's lawyers told the federal judge involved in the case that Trump is currently too busy with political demands to stand trial. What kind of precedent does this set for Trump's administration?

[...] If the lawsuits [against Trump] aren't settled now, they may not see the light of day for four to eight years, say legal experts. Political science observers say that this puts the ball in Trump's court where litigation is concerned.

[...] Allegations of fraud have dogged Trump throughout the election season, leading the Republican candidate to claim that in such a politicized climate, he would be unable to receive a fair trial.

After his victory over Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton, Trump's lawyers attempted to delay the trial, originally scheduled for Nov. 28, until after the president-elect's [inauguration??]. Before that time, they said, Trump will be too busy learning the presidential ropes to engage in litigation.

[...] Whether or not Trump stays out of court while he serves as president, experts say that the Paula Jones case during Bill Clinton's presidency (she sued him for sexual harassment) is evidence that the legal system does occasionally allow civil cases to proceed against the president during his or her administration.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 21 2016, @05:55PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 21 2016, @05:55PM (#430703)

    whitewater.