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Manhattan Club Lawsuit
I've called the NY AG's office several times trying to get a copy of the settlement. Can someone please tell me where I can access it? Also, who has information regarding the class action lawsuit against the former GP of the Manhattan Club? I'm interested in the options owners may have at this point? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I can reached at 804-240-2160. massiemeredith4@gmail.com. Thank you. -Massie Meredith
Massie M.
Last edited by massiem on May 01, 2018 01:13 PM
1) The settlement is on the NYAG website. Or go to: https://ag.ny.gov/uploads/manhattan-club-aod 2) There is NO CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT. Never was. Can't speak as to the future.
If you want to learn more, just read anything Jeff Weir has contributed. He is the Redweek guy who follows the issue.
Nathan Z.
Last edited by nathanz2 on May 02, 2018 12:21 PM
NY AG found owners guilty of misrepresentation and has imposed their penalties. We should now consider forming a class action against the Manhattan Club since we were sold timeshares that could not be used properly for several years. Our class action does not have to prove misrepresentation since that has already been accomplished. It should ask for all legal fees and some form of restitution to all affected owners. Does anyone know of a good NY legal firm that takes on class actions?
Jack R.
How much are you willing to kick in up front to get this thing going? There is a lot of talk, "let's do this or let's do that." What about the cash?
jackr188 wrote:NY AG found owners guilty of misrepresentation and has imposed their penalties. We should now consider forming a class action against the Manhattan Club since we were sold timeshares that could not be used properly for several years. Our class action does not have to prove misrepresentation since that has already been accomplished. It should ask for all legal fees and some form of restitution to all affected owners. Does anyone know of a good NY legal firm that takes on class actions?
William M.
Last edited by williamm465 on May 02, 2018 02:39 PM
Class action suits are usually funded by the attorney for the plaintiffs, who is compensated on contingency. What an attorney needs to get started is the belief that he can win and the resources to make it happen. So you are looking for an attorney who has millions of dollars to tie up in a lawsuit for many years and succeed where the AG, with unlimited resources, chose not to bring criminal charges. Good luck.
Nathan Z.
You sound like you have some legal experience, however, our class action would not be looking into criminal activity but more of a civil case which would involve misrepresentation with intent to defraud. If we were to get even 5,000 timeshare owners joining for a few hundred dollars each we could offer an attorney one million dollars up front. Perhaps we should start by using this forum to compile a list of owners that would be interested in exploring this... I would volunteer to start taking e-mail addresses for those who would be interested: Please send your information to: MCClassAction@email.com
Jack R.
I know it's some 200+ pages of data on this thread. But please don't re-invent the wheel at this juncture. There is an attorney who has been collecting data for the past month or three. You'll only need to read back about 3or 4 pages to find his email address. Additionally there have been at least 2 attempted class action suits filed and dismissed (prior to the AG settlement).
And no offense but it's not a good idea for people on this list to be responding to an unknown individual. It's not uncommon to see representation of TMC trolling this and other lists.
Not directed to jackr --- but recently I've seen people posting private contact information to this list and asking the attorney or TMC to contact you. Never gonna happen. You need to contact the attorney yourself and posting your private contact info to this (or any other public forum) is never a good idea.
Robert S.
The settlement terms are on the AG's website.
karenb1556 wrote:After receiving the TMC new budget I elected to email the board members whose addresses were provided by Kevin on p.199 of this forum. In response, the following day I received a phone call and then an email from Mr. Dunphy. The concerns I voiced were my frustration over the continual increased fees and why their isn't any discussion of, or action on returning units for those who no longer want them. I have continued to pay the fees but I'm getting very close to them being due again. I love NYC and have been pleased with staying at TMC since 1998 but it has gotten cost prohibitive. His response was that they try very hard to keep costs down but daily housekeeping by union workers and laundry costs are very expensive. Nothing else related to this was mentioned other than he thanked me and the other members for his employment and that of all the other people who work at TMC.As far as the take back of units for those who just want out for whatever reason, including me, he spent 5-10 min telling me he had no information on this because of the Attorney General. He spoke almost as though it wasn't settled yet and they were waiting for direction from the AG. I have scanned through the 27 page settlement document, but not being a legal person I don't see where this may or may not have been addressed. I might try to read every word. So I then posed this question to the AG office but have not heard back yet and probably won't anytime soon. If I hear anything more I will share.
Dks
Please see the Attorney General’s article regarding the settlement:
I am not clear on what this means for this owner/buyer group regarding what restitution will this provide.
Español A.G. Schneiderman Announces $6.5 Million Settlement With Midtown Manhattan Timeshare That Scammed Purchasers
The Manhattan Club, Timeshare In Midtown Manhattan, Will Pay Restitution To Hundreds Of Purchasers That Were Misled About Their Ability To Reserve Rooms And Resell Shares
Settlement Is The Largest In Recent History Of The AG’s Real Estate Finance Bureau
Schneiderman Reminds New York Residents To Be Wary Of High-Pressure Sales Traps Utilized By Some Timeshare Companies
NEW YORK – Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced a $6.5 million settlemnt with the owners and operators of the Manhattan Club, a timeshare building in Midtown Manhattan, over the sponsor’s repeated false promises to potential and current share owners.
The settlement is the largest in recent history for the Attorney General’s Real Estate Finance Bureau. Under the terms of the settlement, the operators of the Manhattan Club, at 200 West 56th Street, acknowledge that they repeatedly misled shareowners about the club’s reservation process, their ability to sell back their shares, and the details of the club’s state-approved offering plan.
“The owners of the Manhattan Club lured thousands of timeshare buyers with false promises and shady sales tactics that violated New York law,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “While timeshares can be legitimate enterprises, scams like this one are common. To avoid becoming a victim, always be wary of high pressure sales tactics.”
The club bills itself as a “unique” “residence-style boutique hotel” that blends “a vacation ownership retreat with a luxury suite hotel” and that offers “a hard-to-find haven in the midst of this active city.” The website appeals to people who “frequently visit New York City to enjoy Broadway theatre, fine dining and shopping, [and] classical performances.”
The owners and operators in this case are T. Park Central LLC, O. Park Central LLC, Park Central Management, LLC, Ian Bruce Eichner, Leslie H. Eichner, Stuart P. Eichner, Scott L. Lager, Hospitality Advisors, LLC, New York Urban Ownership Management, LLC, and Manhattan Club Marketing Group LLC.
In addition to the $6.5 million restitution to eligible timeshare owners, the settlement requires:
The owners and operators to be barred from the timeshare industry The owners and operators will sell their stakes to a third-party purchaser and relinquish management control Remove all sponsor-appointed current officers and directors from their positions as members of the Board of the Timeshare Association. Eligible timeshare owners will be contacted by a Claims Administrator at a later date about disbursement of the restitution.
The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) began investigating the Manhattan Club in 2014 after receiving repeated complaints from shareowners who paid tens of thousands of dollars to become Manhattan Club “owners,” but were unable to make reservations due to a claimed lack of available rooms by the hotel’s operators. At the same time, rooms in the Manhattan Club were being rented over the internet to the general public, in violation of the timeshare’s offering plan.
In Spring 2014, OAG sent undercover investigators to record the Manhattan Club’s “Vacation Ownership Experience” sales presentation. Investigators found evidence indicating that the Manhattan Club’s sales tactics amounted to a bait-and-switch scheme.
Prospective purchasers were baited by a relentless sales pitch that included a number of misleading promises, including that ownership in the Manhattan Club is “better than money in the bank.” Prospective buyers were also told that the club does not rent rooms to the general public, that reservations were easy to make, and that few restrictions apply to reservations by owners.
But these promises were false. For example, contrary to the club’s explicit promises in its offering plan, room availability to owners was greatly limited because rooms were being rented out to the general public. That means that all reservations are subject to availability and owners, in some cases, were unable to use any of the time they purchased. Further, the owners’ annual common charges jumped approximately 200% in the last ten years – to about $2,000 per ownership interest per year for the smaller units – on top of the upfront purchase costs that ranged from just under $10,000 to over $40,000 per ownership interest. Some frustrated owners have sold their ownership interests back for a mere $1, just to escape the burdens of paying these charges.
In July 2014, pursuant to General Business Law section 354, a provision of New York’s Martin Act that confers broad powers on the Attorney General to investigate and halt fraud, a Manhattan Supreme Court justice barred the Manhattan Club from selling timeshare interests, preventing them from withdrawing money from certain bank accounts, and stopping them from foreclosing on Manhattan Club purchasers during the pendency of the investigation.
For information about how to protect yourself from timeshare, home improvement and vacation scams, click here for the Attorney General’s brochure “Don’t Get Burned: Attorney General’s Guide To Protecting New Yorkers From Summer Scams.”
This case was handled by Louis M. Solomon, Chief of Enforcement in the Real Estate Finance Bureau, with assistance from Assistant Attorneys General Nicholas Minella and Kimberley Ver Ploeg in the Real Estate Finance Bureau, as well as Matthew Woodruff, Senior Enforcement Counsel, Assistant Attorney General Tanya Trakht, and paralegals Natalya Fadeyeva and Pascual Noble in the Investor Protection Bureau with notable contribution by Jonathan Werberg, Senior Data Scientist, Research & Analytics. This case was investigated by former Supervising Investigators Luis Carter and Michael Ward, Supervising Investigator Sylvia Rivera, Investigators Karon Richardson, Elsa Rojas and Former Sr. Investigator Richard Friedman, under the direction of Deputy Chief John McManus and Chief Dominick Zarrella of the Investigations Bureau. Former Assistant Attorneys General Serwat Farooq and Elissa Rossi also assisted on the case. The Real Estate Finance Bureau is led by Bureau Chief Brent Meltzer and overseen by Executive Deputy Attorney General for Economic Justice Manisha M. Sheth.
View the settlement document
Attorney General’s Press Office: (212) 416-8060
nyag.pressoffice@ag.ny.gov
Press Release Archive
May 2018
Lorac J.
The (somewhat complicated) scheme for restitution is in the settlement document. It’s supposed to be implemented by a claims administrator. Fown the road, You’ll probably need to show that you’ve been denied reservations and are current on your fees. But no administrator has yet been appointed as far as we know.
loracj wrote:Please see the Attorney General’s article regarding the settlement:I am not clear on what this means for this owner/buyer group regarding what restitution will this provide.
Español A.G. Schneiderman Announces $6.5 Million Settlement With Midtown Manhattan Timeshare That Scammed Purchasers
The Manhattan Club, Timeshare In Midtown Manhattan, Will Pay Restitution To Hundreds Of Purchasers That Were Misled About Their Ability To Reserve Rooms And Resell Shares
Settlement Is The Largest In Recent History Of The AG’s Real Estate Finance Bureau
Schneiderman Reminds New York Residents To Be Wary Of High-Pressure Sales Traps Utilized By Some Timeshare Companies
NEW YORK – Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced a $6.5 million settlemnt with the owners and operators of the Manhattan Club, a timeshare building in Midtown Manhattan, over the sponsor’s repeated false promises to potential and current share owners.
The settlement is the largest in recent history for the Attorney General’s Real Estate Finance Bureau. Under the terms of the settlement, the operators of the Manhattan Club, at 200 West 56th Street, acknowledge that they repeatedly misled shareowners about the club’s reservation process, their ability to sell back their shares, and the details of the club’s state-approved offering plan.
“The owners of the Manhattan Club lured thousands of timeshare buyers with false promises and shady sales tactics that violated New York law,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “While timeshares can be legitimate enterprises, scams like this one are common. To avoid becoming a victim, always be wary of high pressure sales tactics.”
The club bills itself as a “unique” “residence-style boutique hotel” that blends “a vacation ownership retreat with a luxury suite hotel” and that offers “a hard-to-find haven in the midst of this active city.” The website appeals to people who “frequently visit New York City to enjoy Broadway theatre, fine dining and shopping, [and] classical performances.”
The owners and operators in this case are T. Park Central LLC, O. Park Central LLC, Park Central Management, LLC, Ian Bruce Eichner, Leslie H. Eichner, Stuart P. Eichner, Scott L. Lager, Hospitality Advisors, LLC, New York Urban Ownership Management, LLC, and Manhattan Club Marketing Group LLC.
In addition to the $6.5 million restitution to eligible timeshare owners, the settlement requires:
The owners and operators to be barred from the timeshare industry The owners and operators will sell their stakes to a third-party purchaser and relinquish management control Remove all sponsor-appointed current officers and directors from their positions as members of the Board of the Timeshare Association. Eligible timeshare owners will be contacted by a Claims Administrator at a later date about disbursement of the restitution.
The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) began investigating the Manhattan Club in 2014 after receiving repeated complaints from shareowners who paid tens of thousands of dollars to become Manhattan Club “owners,” but were unable to make reservations due to a claimed lack of available rooms by the hotel’s operators. At the same time, rooms in the Manhattan Club were being rented over the internet to the general public, in violation of the timeshare’s offering plan.
In Spring 2014, OAG sent undercover investigators to record the Manhattan Club’s “Vacation Ownership Experience” sales presentation. Investigators found evidence indicating that the Manhattan Club’s sales tactics amounted to a bait-and-switch scheme.
Prospective purchasers were baited by a relentless sales pitch that included a number of misleading promises, including that ownership in the Manhattan Club is “better than money in the bank.” Prospective buyers were also told that the club does not rent rooms to the general public, that reservations were easy to make, and that few restrictions apply to reservations by owners.
But these promises were false. For example, contrary to the club’s explicit promises in its offering plan, room availability to owners was greatly limited because rooms were being rented out to the general public. That means that all reservations are subject to availability and owners, in some cases, were unable to use any of the time they purchased. Further, the owners’ annual common charges jumped approximately 200% in the last ten years – to about $2,000 per ownership interest per year for the smaller units – on top of the upfront purchase costs that ranged from just under $10,000 to over $40,000 per ownership interest. Some frustrated owners have sold their ownership interests back for a mere $1, just to escape the burdens of paying these charges.
In July 2014, pursuant to General Business Law section 354, a provision of New York’s Martin Act that confers broad powers on the Attorney General to investigate and halt fraud, a Manhattan Supreme Court justice barred the Manhattan Club from selling timeshare interests, preventing them from withdrawing money from certain bank accounts, and stopping them from foreclosing on Manhattan Club purchasers during the pendency of the investigation.
For information about how to protect yourself from timeshare, home improvement and vacation scams, click here for the Attorney General’s brochure “Don’t Get Burned: Attorney General’s Guide To Protecting New Yorkers From Summer Scams.”
This case was handled by Louis M. Solomon, Chief of Enforcement in the Real Estate Finance Bureau, with assistance from Assistant Attorneys General Nicholas Minella and Kimberley Ver Ploeg in the Real Estate Finance Bureau, as well as Matthew Woodruff, Senior Enforcement Counsel, Assistant Attorney General Tanya Trakht, and paralegals Natalya Fadeyeva and Pascual Noble in the Investor Protection Bureau with notable contribution by Jonathan Werberg, Senior Data Scientist, Research & Analytics. This case was investigated by former Supervising Investigators Luis Carter and Michael Ward, Supervising Investigator Sylvia Rivera, Investigators Karon Richardson, Elsa Rojas and Former Sr. Investigator Richard Friedman, under the direction of Deputy Chief John McManus and Chief Dominick Zarrella of the Investigations Bureau. Former Assistant Attorneys General Serwat Farooq and Elissa Rossi also assisted on the case. The Real Estate Finance Bureau is led by Bureau Chief Brent Meltzer and overseen by Executive Deputy Attorney General for Economic Justice Manisha M. Sheth.
View the settlement document
Attorney General’s Press Office: (212) 416-8060
nyag.pressoffice@ag.ny.gov
Press Release Archive
May 2018
Dennis C.
roberts714,
good conclusions, but now my question is NOW WHAT? where's the advantage (s) to us owners? WHERE TO FROM HERE?
chris26
roberts714 wrote:Please read the settlement. It does mandate a change in management. It also precludes the current managers from working in the TimeShare industry in the state of NY. I disagree with the above post that 'it's over' and the AG is to blame for our current state of flux. The NY AG did not represent the TimeShare owners. The AG settlement does nothing to make us whole.It's the Eichner's that have created a situation where the value of our units is close to zero. In the Eichner's defense that's also an industry wide problem. Used TimeShares have very little relationship to retail purchase prices.
I also believe the premise of there being a freeze on the sale or purchase of units does not include us. In many ways it's a good thing in that it won't reward the Eichner's by allowing a flood of units to be deeded back to them - just so they can troll for more victims. I'm not buying that the costs to run the facility are wholly inflated by the house cleaning unions. That claim is a deflection of the reality of millions that were skimmed from the owners over many years.
Chris V.
williamm465,
caution is the key words for UP FRONT MONEY are mega risk. we need to know who, what, when, where, guarantees,et al. l have burned with upfront "contributions" and then the receiver skipped to somewhere off the planet,
williamm465 wrote:How much are you willing to kick in up front to get this thing going? There is a lot of talk, "let's do this or let's do that." What about the cash?jackr188 wrote:NY AG found owners guilty of misrepresentation and has imposed their penalties. We should now consider forming a class action against the Manhattan Club since we were sold timeshares that could not be used properly for several years. Our class action does not have to prove misrepresentation since that has already been accomplished. It should ask for all legal fees and some form of restitution to all affected owners. Does anyone know of a good NY legal firm that takes on class actions?
Chris V.
this has little or anything to do with schneiderman vs ian bruce eichner; but yes i would not want him to represent my interests (if the allegations are true) in the future. regardless, he did little or anything, in any event, for us owners during the law suit. the so-called "settlement" is worth nada.
Chris V.
It's a shame this hadn't happened before our settlement was finalized because perhaps we would have fared a lot better with a different A. G. but then who knows, we could have done worse. And I realize that it's a waste of time to speculate on what might have been.
Gail J.