Trump University lawsuit closer to trial

5-year-old case alleging “empty promises” continues amid Donald Trump’s run for president

By Kristina Davis | 3:31 p.m. Dec. 17, 2015

Real estate mogul and reality TV star Donald Trump (left) listens as Michael Sexton introduces him at a news conference in New York where he announced the establishment of Trump University. Bebeto Matthews

SAN DIEGO — As Donald Trump continues his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, two class-action lawsuits have been slowly moving through San Diego federal court for the last five years against the tycoon and his so-called real estate university and are inching closer to trial.

One lawsuit was filed in 2010 by a handful of students who paid as much as $35,000 each to attend Trump University, which they claim was a sham “full of empty promises” and not as advertised. A judge largely denied Trump’s motion to throw out the case last month, ruling that the students had brought up issues that should be heard by a jury.

A source with knowledge of the case said Trump was deposed last week.

The unlicensed online institution has come under fire in New York as well, with the state attorney general filing a similar suit that prompted the school to drop the “university” label from its name and proceed as the Trump Entrepreneur Initiative. In Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s $40 million lawsuit, he claims many students expected to meet Trump but instead got a picture with a life-size cardboard cutout instead.

Another lawsuit was also filed in San Diego in 2013, similar to the first, but with only one student named as a plaintiff.

The lingering lawsuits have followed him with national press on the campaign trail.

In a court hearing in San Diego earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel said he was anxious to move the 2010 case forward, pointing out this was the second-oldest case on his docket.

He also acknowledged the uniqueness of the case, saying it wasn’t often a presidential candidate was a party.

Trump’s presidential campaign was considered somewhat during the Dec. 4 hearing as the judge and lawyers grappled with setting future court dates to move toward trial. One of Trump’s lawyers, Daniel Petrocelli, asked the judge if postponing a trial until after July would be possible, to accommodate the intensified campaigning leading up to the Republican National Convention, set for that month.

The judge suggested aiming for an August trial date, giving lawyers enough time to sort out the myriad legal issues the complex case presents. No trial date has been officially set.

Attorneys for both sides did not respond to requests for interviews Thursday.

Trump levied his reputation as a well-known real estate magnate to open his for-profit Trump University in 2004, with advertisements that promised to teach students his insider secrets of success and instruction and mentoring by “handpicked” experts.

Prospective students were invited to a free seminar and then asked to join different levels of the program at increased costs.

Students from various states sued out of dissatisfaction with the program, describing it more like “a three-day infomercial” meant not to educate but to encourage students to pay for more seminars, according to the first lawsuit.

The students claim that the university promised them they would make the money back in their first real estate deal, and potentially tens of thousands per month more.

Trump has argued that the plaintiffs have not proven the program was worthless and that the advertising materials were not misleading. He further argued that he can’t be held personally liable because he did not run day-to-day operations at the university.

In a 2011 interview, one of Trump’s attorneys said there was no merit to the lawsuit and it was being brought by “greedy plaintiffs attorneys looking to extort Mr. Trump.”

Another said the students’ lack of success was their own fault.

Trump reacted to the first San Diego lawsuit by countersuing for defamation, but it has since been dismissed. A similar defamation complaint against the New York attorney general was also dismissed.

Four students, including Sonny Low of Chula Vista, remain in the 2010 lawsuit, and the judge has narrowed down the requirements for who else is eligible to join the class-action.

The school halted operations in 2010, although Trump said in a 2012 deposition: “Do we plan to start (Trump University) again after this lawsuit is won and after we bring the lawsuit against your firm? I would say probably yeah.”

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