If President-elect Donald Trump thought he could waive a magic want and make all his legal troubles disappear after the election, he was wrong. On Wednesday a U.S. District Court Judge refused to toss a 2013 lawsuit against Trump National Golf Course in Jupiter, Florida.
Club members say Trump hasn’t returned an estimated $6 million to members of his country club off Donald Ross Road. Trump bought the club from the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club & Spa for $5 million in 2012.
When the Ritz owned it, deposits ranging from $35,000 to $210,000 were refundable. But once Trump bought the club, some club members say Trump changed the rules and refused to return their deposits.
This is the second time U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Marra denied Trump’s request to throw out the case; he did so for the first time in July. The trial was held in August and judgement still awaits.
Donald Trump sent a Dec. 17, 2013, letter to club members that is a key piece of evidence in the case. In that letter, Trump said Ritz members could “opt in” to his new club, in exchange for agreeing their memberships were nonrefundable.
If members weren’t interested in opting in, and they remained on a club resignation list, Trump said he didn’t want them, anyway.
“You’re probably not going to be a very good club member … you’re out,” Trump wrote in the letter. “As the owner of the club, I do not want them to utilize the club nor do I want their dues.”