Even as acting leader of the free world, Donald Trump will have to pay up after a judge ruled that his Florida golf course violated membership contracts.
According to the Associated Press, the golf course belonging to the current President of the United States will have to repay $5.7 million to 65 former members. On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that when the Ritz-Carlton owned golf course in Jupiter was purchased and changed to the Trump National Golf Club, members who signed a contract with the previous ownership group had their contracts violated. The average payment amount to those members is set to be $87,000.
The AP reports that Trump purchased the course at below-market value ($5 million in 2002) by agreeing to take on the potential $41 million in refundable membership deposits. So it certainly appears he and his company knew this was a possibility. Yet shortly after buying the club, he told members who had signed resignation agreements would no longer have access to the club if they did not rescind those notices. Furthermore, those members would still be expected to pay dues (which even his son, Eric, admitted in testimony was unfair). When that access was cut off, those members filed the lawsuit against Trump.
Trump is no stranger to being involved in lawsuits or having to repay people. After getting elected president, Trump agreed to pay $25 million to settle multiple lawsuits coming from his failed Trump University. In true Trumpian fashion, he settled those cases “without an acknowledgment of fault of liability.”
It doesn’t look like Trump’s going to settle in this case, as the Trump Organization released a statement stating they would appeal and “respectfully disagree with the court’s decision.” Trump has every right to challenge the ruling, of course. However, would it not be a Trump presidency without some sort of pending lawsuit against him? The POTUS is a magnet for them. But this is the weird, bizarro reality Americans live in.
