Manhattan Club Lawsuit

Why it should be a bet in regard to unpaid number of owners? We have a TMC Association, a non-profit organization, and its Board who supposed to answer these and many other questions upon the owners request. Such as: how many owners in the TMC? For how long and why that question has to be a secret? How many interests the TMC owns? How many interests O, T, H. Parks and other associated companies own? How many delinquent interests? How will the BG transient program effect the owners and what happens to paperwork and original registrations?

Maybe it's time to put all these questions in a collective letter and request the answers?

sueo79 wrote:

If the total is 10 million in bad debt due to unpaid maint - my bet is a few thousand owners

In regard to rickb478 post I have a query for the TMC NY owners. I am not a NY-er and not aware of NY state regulations on the Unions labor.

MC Annual Budget, section1 states: "Labor. Union employee wages are in accordance with the current contract rate of the Hotel Trade Council of New York City and reflect a 2.75% annual increase for 2019".

TMC Annual Budgets had informed they raised the wages for the Union labor workers: In 2014 that comes to +4.00%, in 2015 +4.5%, in 2016 +3.5%, in 2017 +3.5%, in 2018 +3.5%, in 2018 +3,5%, in 2019 +2.75%.

So, from 2014 to 2019 the wages raised at 21.75%. Is that typical for NY state?

rickb478 wrote:

I have always thought that when staying the three or four nights of the split week that there should be limited maid service. We can make our bed, hang up towels wash dishes in the dishwasher etc. The maids only need to take out the trash and replenish the amenities. If someone would like full maid service put on a charge of say $15 a day. This would save on laundry and personnel costs since not as many maids would be needed and would generate some extra income. Also I saw once an MS 13 guy taking change out of the soda machine on the floor I was on. Were does this money go? Shouldn't it go to reduce our expenses?

As we know the Urban Management was so kind to frees their 20% management fees since 2010 to get no more than 6,4+ millions a year. 2019 TMC Budget tells us about new provision that will apply for the LAST time:

"2019 12.Management Fees $6,482,049 That provision notwithstanding, for the ninth consecutive year and for the last time, the maximum Management Fee of $6,482,049 for the calendar year of 2019 will be equal to the Management Fee budgeted in 2010".

Does that mean the new BG owners are getting to raise the management fees?

I suggested this a long time ago. I actually like to be free of someone coming into the room every day! What a savings that would be also. Their answer was that the union wouldn't allow them to do it! I get really annoyed when I exchange with a lesser valued property and then find I have to pay all their extra charges!

You are certainly speaking for me. I have owned for over 20 years. TMC is the most expensive timeshare I own, and I own Westin, Marriott, Hyatt and these can offer far more. Interval will now let you use points for hotels. TMC doesn't even treat you as an owner.

follow this link to read our latest report on the Manhattan Club saga. It is our Ask RedWeek column for August. We will update as things continue to develop.

https://www.redweek.com/resources/ask-redweek/manhattan-club-bluegreen

I would like to get out of my ownership of the Manhattan Club. I'm reading about the lawsuit and must admit I'm not very informed. I have not stayed at the Manhattan Club in years and have exchanged in RCI Is there any problem with selling the timeshare?

The problem has been that people have unsuccessfully tried to just give their Manhattan Club weeks away and there have been no takers from what I had learned. The high maintenance fees that keep rising are a turn off to any prospective buyer as they can go on line and rent weeks there and at hotels in NYC for less than the maintenance fee an owner would have to pay.

It used to be you could give your Timeshare back to the club and get little or nothing for it. They are not currently doing that. You can get on a list to give it back. You can try to sell it, but there aren't any takers because it isn't hard for a prospective buyer to find out about the investigation/settlement and the fact that at the moment the timeshares aren't worth anything. Also, it used to be that if you did find a buyer, TMC had first right of refusal. My advice is to contact Lynne O'Donnell in the financial dept. she can tell you what options, if any you have. But she is most likely going to tell you that nothing is happening at the moment because of the settlement process that is going on year 2 out of 3 years. Or, wait and see what Bluegreen has to offer. They are taking over units and management of TMC and apparently are already on site and have been since 2010, I believe I read...Read Jeff Weirs recent article about the state of affairs posted a few posts above yours.

barbarat368 wrote:

I would like to get out of my ownership of the Manhattan Club. I'm reading about the lawsuit and must admit I'm not very informed. I have not stayed at the Manhattan Club in years and have exchanged in RCI Is there any problem with selling the timeshare?

The Manhattan Club along with virtually every other hotel in New York City is a union house. With that said, the Manhattan Club has agreed to a union contract that provides their members/employees guaranteed hours, benefits, wages etc. Discussions concerning curtailing daily housekeeping at the Manhattan Club are unrealistic for the following reasons: 1. Owners and guests that stay at the Manhattan Club expect and deserve daily housekeeping to their units. Any possible change to this would result in further complaints and unfavorable reviews for the Manhattan Club. 2. As mentioned previously, union contracts at the Manhattan Club are required to provide employees with certain hours, wages and benefits. So even if housekeeping duties were limited, Manhattan Club would still be required to compensate said employees. There are many issues at the Manhattan Club that need to be resolved. Daily housekeeping is not one of them .

i'm not sure why nobody here has taken my cue to email our "owner members" and the TMC board of directors. we seem to have exhausted many, most or ALL of our options, including the now-suddenly-not-heard-from attorneys (zimmerman, et al). we are lepers awaiting a cure which still seems out of our reach. we are not helping ourselves by hopefully awaiting a lawsuit, and/or complaining about what we are trying to eliminate and improve, on this redweek.com forum. we're blowing off frustrated steam. face it.

yes, the owner board members seem to be planted figurehead entities. however since bluegreen will be our next possible nemesis. wouldn't it be worth an attempt BY ALL OF US OWNERS to write to our so-called representative board members and all other management members, seeking their representation to get relief in the matters that we are all complaining bitterly about?

my 2 emails to the TMC BOD appear on this page or shortly before this one. admittedly, i received no specific satisfaction from these emails. but, if ALL OF US emailed the BOD, perhaps someone would sit up and take notice. isn't it worth a try to do this practically effortless task? we've tried so many other strategies, and we're still NOT BACK TO SQUARE ONE..............WE ARE AT SQUARE Z E R O. our owner board members seem to sit like puppets. perhaps we can poke their consciences and force them into some kind of their own actions and reactions IN SATISFACTION OF ALL OTHER OWNERS' BEHALVES. isn't that why they're on the board...................TO REPRESENT US?

if you dump the truck and don't "keep on truckin'" then stay in the desert and await the vultures to gobble up you and your TMC OWNERSHIP.

WRITE TO THE MANHATTAN CLUB BOARD OF DIRECTORS...............TO THE OWNER MEMBERS BY NAME: PATRICIA STOLTY, ROBERT BALLOT, AND JIM DUNPHY.........INCLUDING ALL THE OTHER VOTING BOARD MEMBERS//////////////////////////////////////////////////////N O W. hopefully our collective efforts can shake them into the integrity they owe us all.

Does anyone know if the non sponsor Board members ( the 3 owners) get any type of compensation? Do they perhaps get to waive their maintenance fees?

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/temporary-restraining-order-entered-against-the-manhattan-club-300699202.html?tc=eml_cleartime

Temporary Restraining Order Entered Against The Manhattan Club NEWS PROVIDED BY Zimmerman Law Group 08:00 ET NEW YORK, Aug. 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- On Monday, August 13, 2018, Jean-Marc Zimmerman of The Zimmerman Law Group (ZLG) succeeded in obtaining a temporary restraining order (TRO) in New York State Supreme Court against The Manhattan Club Timeshare Association Inc. (TMC) on behalf of Mr. Robert Tucker, a Board of Directors nominee, staying all action taken by TMC's Board of Directors at and after its annual meeting held on August 9, 2018. The TRO also requires TMC to show cause in Court on August 29, 2018 why it should not have to produce the list of TMC timeshare owners that Mr. Tucker requested and was entitled to under New York State law, but that TMC refused to provide to him.

ZLG is engaged in a separate effort to obtain redress for various timeshare owners against TMC and its Sponsor, based on allegations of fraud, breach of contract, and other wrongful conduct. Disclosure of the owner list will enable owners to organize to redress the Sponsor's wrongful conduct. Some of this conduct was the subject of an investigation by the New York State Attorney General, that resulted in the Assurance of Discontinuance (AOD) last August in which the Sponsor admitted committing a variety of wrongs, agreed to pay a $6.5M penalty, and agreed to take steps to remedy the such conduct. Unfortunately, the AOD left most TMC owners without remedy or compensation, and has yet to provide benefit to any owners.

Zimmerman Law Group has decades of experience successively litigating sophisticated commercial cases, obtaining millions of dollars in awards and settlements. For further information, please contact: Jean-Marc Zimmerman, Zimmerman Law Group, 233 Watchung Fork, Westfield, NJ 07090, jmz@tmcsuit.com.

Chris, I have not yet tried writing the board members...wondered if you have received any responses?

hi deborah, yes, i received a rather neutral (and unsatisfying) response from patti (stoltys); however, i'm making an assumption that few, if any other TMC owners have communicated with the BOD. my premise is that if enough of us email (or by whichever other preferred communication method) the BOD with our many complaints, we might receive more than a neutral response. my guess is that our 3 non-voting owner board members are doing what they are told, i.e., not upsetting the apple cart. this might not be the scenario if many more of us appeal to patricia stoltys, bob ballot and jim dunphy, owners' board representatives, i believe in the adage that "there's power in numbers", don't you agree?

let"s face it, (a possible lawsuit notwithstanding), we have only each other to depend upon in fighting this never-ending battle. i believe it's worth 5 or ten minutes of our time to communicate, reaching out to this board to treat us with the civil respect and financial fairness that we deserve. that's what our contracts and the sales pitches allude to. we've been dashed to the ground by the ridiculous "settlement" garnered by the ill-prepared, former nys attorney general. he threw away any of his deputies' first-hand evidence of fraud, and was satisfied to WIN his case.........L.........O.........L for new york state, while kissing us owners goodbye leaving us with little, if any financial recourse or satisfaction, to wit, 400% increases in maintenance fees. let the board know directly from each writer, the total unfairness that we've experienced, e.g., exorbitant maintenance fees and reservations nearly or definitely impossible to get...........to name only two.

i hope you and all other TMC owners will use the very little time it takes to communicate with the BOD, referring to our representatives by name. simply look up their email addresses (should you choose to use the most convenient method of emailing.)

i hope i responded to your message satisfactorily.

deborahs528 wrote:

Chris, I have not yet tried writing the board members...wondered if you have received any responses?

Chris - I'm on board to write like crazy to the Board. I hate to ask this dumb question, but where can I find their email addresses?

Last year' list of the TMC Board Directors:

Stuart Eichner – President, Board Member Scott L. Lager – Vice President, Board Member Joshua A. Wirshba – Board Member Salvatore P. Reale – Board Member

Stephen Prial Sponsor Board Member email: timeshareboard@manhattanclub.com Weejen Lynch Sponsor Board Member email: timeshareboard@manhattanclub.com Kim Fries Sponsor Board Member email: timeshareboard@manhattanclub.com Ada Grzywna Sponsor Board Member email: timeshareboard@manhattanclub.com Patricia Soltys Non-Sponsor Board Member email: patti.tmcny@gmail.com James Dunphy Non-Sponsor Board Member email: jdunphytmcny@outlook.com Robert Ballot Non-Sponsor Board Member email: bbb174@aol.com

sueo79 wrote:

Temporary Restraining Order Entered Against The Manhattan Club NEWS PROVIDED BY Zimmerman Law Group 08:00 ET NEW YORK, Aug. 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- On Monday, August 13, 2018, Jean-Marc Zimmerman of The Zimmerman Law Group (ZLG) succeeded in obtaining a temporary restraining order (TRO) in New York State Supreme Court against The Manhattan Club Timeshare Association Inc. (TMC) on behalf of Mr. Robert Tucker, a Board of Directors nominee, staying all action taken by TMC's Board of Directors at and after its annual meeting held on August 9, 2018. The TRO also requires TMC to show cause in Court on August 29, 2018 why it should not have to produce the list of TMC timeshare owners that Mr. Tucker requested and was entitled to under New York State law, but that TMC refused to provide to him.

ZLG is engaged in a separate effort to obtain redress for various timeshare owners against TMC and its Sponsor, based on allegations of fraud, breach of contract, and other wrongful conduct. Disclosure of the owner list will enable owners to organize to redress the Sponsor's wrongful conduct. Some of this conduct was the subject of an investigation by the New York State Attorney General, that resulted in the Assurance of Discontinuance (AOD) last August in which the Sponsor admitted committing a variety of wrongs, agreed to pay a $6.5M penalty, and agreed to take steps to remedy the such conduct. Unfortunately, the AOD left most TMC owners without remedy or compensation, and has yet to provide benefit to any owners.

Zimmerman Law Group has decades of experience successively litigating sophisticated commercial cases, obtaining millions of dollars in awards and settlements. For further information, please contact: Jean-Marc Zimmerman, Zimmerman Law Group, 233 Watchung Fork, Westfield, NJ 07090, jmz@tmcsuit.com.

sueo79, thank you so much for such a great news. Are the owners allowed to attend the court hearing on August 29?

Thanks!