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Manhattan Club Lawsuit
I am so disgusted with how this "settlement" is playing out or rather, I should say not playing out. I have a fixed penthouse Dec. week and am current on my maintenance fees. In case I can't use my week, a few days ago, I was told by the M. C. management that I could try to rent it through sites like this one ( Redweek) or deposit it with Interval International which seems now to have much fewer exchanges than it did many years ago. I explained all this to a friend who said "why don't you look at Trip Advisor and find out what their rental rates are and that should give you an idea as to what your penthouse week rental should be". I did that and it seems that Trip Advisor's deals are made directly through the Manhattan Club reservation dept. So - it appears that the M. Club is continuing to rent out weeks. Well, whose weeks are those? And who gets the money? I guess basically zilch has really changed since the "settlement" was reached. Very disappointing.
Gail J.
Dear TMC Members: We are writing to provide an update on our progress in the TMC suit.
As many of you know, we filed a lawsuit on behalf of Mr. Robert Tucker, who was candidate for a non-sponsor Board position, to obtain TMC’s member list (presently maintained in confidence by TMC) in an effort to communicate with other members about remediating and obtaining redress for the wrongs TMC’s Sponsor admitted committing.
A hearing in Mr. Tucker’s case is next scheduled for December 12. While his lawsuit is not part of the action for which we have been retained by other members, Mr. Tucker may make this list available for contacting and organizing timeshare members. We are also engaged in other efforts to obtain the member list from TMC. Obtaining the list will eliminate the stranglehold that TMC’s Sponsor and management presently have on communications between members and allow members to organize and assert their rights. We therefore expect to soon be able to communicate directly with all TMC members about our planned suit. To date, only the Sponsor and management substantially benefit from the continued existence of TMC in its current form. We seek to change that. Our plan is to access the equity locked in the TMC building in addition to seeking damages from the Sponsor and management for their respective wrongs, including charging excessive maintenance fees, renting members’ rooms online to the public while denying preference to members, and otherwise rendering TMC timeshares worthless and thus unsaleable.
To move forward, we require additional members to retain us, beyond the several dozen who have already done so. Therefore, we ask that our supporters assist us in communicating our message to other members. When we reach sufficient scale, we will then be able to cost-effectively utilize all of our capabilities, to overturn the status quo at TMC and obtain relief.
Simply defaulting on timeshare maintenance fee payments and hoping that you can walk away from your TMC interest without any adverse consequence is not a viable option. Despite online posts reporting that members have been contacted by TMC about being able to do just that, recent comments from Shawn Person, CEO of Bluegreen Vacations, Inc. which now manages TMC seems to indicate otherwise. Specifically, during an analyst earnings call on November 5, 2018, Mr. Pearson stated that Bluegreen was “tak[ing] a proactive stance towards” timeshare exit firms who claim
“that they can eliminate owner obligations and encourage delinquencies and owner defaults. Our new Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, Jorge de la Osa, who joined us in June with substantial industry experience, is already making progress, as is the entire timeshare industry who are also focused on the issue. Multiple third-party timeshare exit firms have now filed termination of representation notices relating to more than 205 vacation club owner contracts. In addition, it was recently announced that the founder of one of the higher volume law firms involved in these activities was disbarred by the Supreme Court of Tennessee, and another of the firms declared bankruptcy”
Bluegreen indicates that it is “encouraged with the results of our strategy to date and intend to continue fighting” efforts by or on behalf of members to avoid paying maintenance fees “by aggressively addressing this industry-wide problem.” Similarly, during this same call, Bluegreen’s SVP Mr. Anthony Puleo stated that “while it is still early we believe, our more aggressive stance and other default initiatives show promise.”
Therefore, defaulting on timeshare maintenance fee payments is not the answer. We are not asking our clients to pay us to simply get them out of their contract. We are not an “exit firm”. Rather, we are seeking to recover damages, as well as equity value, and impose penalties on those who have wrongfully profited from TMC members. In the end, liquidation of our clients’ timeshare interest is clearly a goal, but we believe our clients should be paid. BlueGreen’s public statements about its aggressive stance towards defaulting members are a challenge we intend to meet.
As an incentive to increase the number of members who retain us, we are in discussions with a litigation funding firm to provide us with an alternative to the retainer terms we have offered to date. While this non-recourse funding could mitigate any up-front fees, doing so would require that members relinquish a portion of any recovery to the funding company larger than the 30% we have sought.
Please contact us if you would like further details, or wish to join the suit. Thank you.
Jean-Marc Zimmerman Zimmerman Law Group 233 Watchung Fork Westfield, NJ 07090 T: (908) 768-6408 F: (908) 935-0751 E: jmz@tmcsuit.com
Jean-Marc Z.
Joining this lawsuit - I encourage everyone to join. There is power in numbers!!
Robert S. wrote:anyone else get the note from Deedinlieu@ManhattanClub.info offering $100 to buy back the unit??all I can say is:
REALLY?
and I'll be re-contacting Mr. Zimmerman to sign up.
Margo R.
the TIMESHARE EXIT TEAM, and other firms with similar objectives (to get owners out of their timeshare obligations with additional benefits............for a FEE..........are interesting. any timeshare is an ENTITY; IT EXISTS. if these companies get owners OUT OF THIS ENTITY WITHOUT FURTHER OBLIGATIONS, THE ENTITY IS STILL THERE. that stated, where does the ENTITY go? it doesn't burn itself out nor vaporize nor disappear. it's still around, interesting!! does the ENTITY............THE ACTUAL TIMESHARE SHARE.......now become available for future sale? and who, then, is able to sell this ENTITY? what happens to it? if the timeshare ownership reverts to BLUEGREEN, do these exit companies turn over the ENTITY to BG? has a deal been made? that i am aware, these questions remain unanswered if asked previously. i ask our TMC owners, perhaps even mr zimmerman, to focus some light on companies who claim ability to relieve us our obligations..............AGAIN FOR A FEE...............if that's the case owners are now being charged twice.........1..to purchase our timeshares, and 2.. now to be relieved of them, with all the maintenance fees and non-allowable use included. SOME ANSWERS/COMMENTS WOULD BE WELCOMED AND APPRECIATED HERE AT REDWEEK.COM.
Chris V.
There’s really no problem with exiting the time share if one really wants to do so. Merely deed your interest back to TMC, as a gift. If they don’t reject the gift promptly, they own it. If they DO reject it, bring an action for a declaratory judgment that the timeshare is void as in violation of the NY Rule Against Perpetuities (a statute that exists in almost every state that in layman’s terms says that the transferability of real estate cannot be suspended or prevented indefinitely—-which is what happens if they refuse to take back your timeshare). (Yes, I AM an attorney-Owner, 50 years practice).
Jean-Marc Z. wrote:Dear TMC Members:We are writing to provide an update on our progress in the TMC suit.
As many of you know, we filed a lawsuit on behalf of Mr. Robert Tucker, who was candidate for a non-sponsor Board position, to obtain TMC’s member list (presently maintained in confidence by TMC) in an effort to communicate with other members about remediating and obtaining redress for the wrongs TMC’s Sponsor admitted committing.
A hearing in Mr. Tucker’s case is next scheduled for December 12. While his lawsuit is not part of the action for which we have been retained by other members, Mr. Tucker may make this list available for contacting and organizing timeshare members. We are also engaged in other efforts to obtain the member list from TMC. Obtaining the list will eliminate the stranglehold that TMC’s Sponsor and management presently have on communications between members and allow members to organize and assert their rights. We therefore expect to soon be able to communicate directly with all TMC members about our planned suit.
To date, only the Sponsor and management substantially benefit from the continued existence of TMC in its current form. We seek to change that. Our plan is to access the equity locked in the TMC building in addition to seeking damages from the Sponsor and management for their respective wrongs, including charging excessive maintenance fees, renting members’ rooms online to the public while denying preference to members, and otherwise rendering TMC timeshares worthless and thus unsaleable.
To move forward, we require additional members to retain us, beyond the several dozen who have already done so. Therefore, we ask that our supporters assist us in communicating our message to other members. When we reach sufficient scale, we will then be able to cost-effectively utilize all of our capabilities, to overturn the status quo at TMC and obtain relief.
Simply defaulting on timeshare maintenance fee payments and hoping that you can walk away from your TMC interest without any adverse consequence is not a viable option. Despite online posts reporting that members have been contacted by TMC about being able to do just that, recent comments from Shawn Person, CEO of Bluegreen Vacations, Inc. which now manages TMC seems to indicate otherwise. Specifically, during an analyst earnings call on November 5, 2018, Mr. Pearson stated that Bluegreen was “tak[ing] a proactive stance towards” timeshare exit firms who claim
“that they can eliminate owner obligations and encourage delinquencies and owner defaults. Our new Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, Jorge de la Osa, who joined us in June with substantial industry experience, is already making progress, as is the entire timeshare industry who are also focused on the issue. Multiple third-party timeshare exit firms have now filed termination of representation notices relating to more than 205 vacation club owner contracts. In addition, it was recently announced that the founder of one of the higher volume law firms involved in these activities was disbarred by the Supreme Court of Tennessee, and another of the firms declared bankruptcy”
Bluegreen indicates that it is “encouraged with the results of our strategy to date and intend to continue fighting” efforts by or on behalf of members to avoid paying maintenance fees “by aggressively addressing this industry-wide problem.” Similarly, during this same call, Bluegreen’s SVP Mr. Anthony Puleo stated that “while it is still early we believe, our more aggressive stance and other default initiatives show promise.”
Therefore, defaulting on timeshare maintenance fee payments is not the answer. We are not asking our clients to pay us to simply get them out of their contract. We are not an “exit firm”. Rather, we are seeking to recover damages, as well as equity value, and impose penalties on those who have wrongfully profited from TMC members. In the end, liquidation of our clients’ timeshare interest is clearly a goal, but we believe our clients should be paid. BlueGreen’s public statements about its aggressive stance towards defaulting members are a challenge we intend to meet.
As an incentive to increase the number of members who retain us, we are in discussions with a litigation funding firm to provide us with an alternative to the retainer terms we have offered to date. While this non-recourse funding could mitigate any up-front fees, doing so would require that members relinquish a portion of any recovery to the funding company larger than the 30% we have sought.
Please contact us if you would like further details, or wish to join the suit. Thank you.
Jean-Marc Zimmerman Zimmerman Law Group 233 Watchung Fork Westfield, NJ 07090 T: (908) 768-6408 F: (908) 935-0751 E: jmz@tmcsuit.com
Steven W
REALLY is right robert s,
your scenario translates to "TMC WINS, SMELLING LIKE A ROSE, AND OWNERS END UP SMELLING LIKE DIGESTED AND ELIMINATED FOOD..........HINT: A 4-LETTER WORD."
Robert S. wrote:anyone else get the note from Deedinlieu@ManhattanClub.info offering $100 to buy back the unit??all I can say is:
REALLY?
and I'll be re-contacting Mr. Zimmerman to sign up.
Chris V.
We also received an email offering $100 for our unit. We own a 1 Bed 1.5 bath every year. We purchase a resale back around 2007. We just may take the offer because we don’t plan on vacationing in NY any longer. We stopped paying the M/F a few years ago because we could not make reservations. Most of our family that lived in NY have past away. We live in CA.
Brenda Nickelson aloha5@hotmail.com
Brenda N.
got the letter via email: my opinion/ recommendation: don't act on either option.
Robert S. wrote:anyone else get the note from Deedinlieu@ManhattanClub.info offering $100 to buy back the unit??all I can say is:
REALLY?
and I'll be re-contacting Mr. Zimmerman to sign up.
Chris V.
This is such a huge CRIMINALLY unjust situation. It is so disgusting to see those of you who trusted The Manhattan Club and handed over thousands (in my case $60K) to this corrupt regime, only to be asked to simply walk away from your investment (which is exactly what ALL OF US was told when we bought our unit) with $100 in your pocket. For those of you who never got to use your unit this is EXCEPTIONALLY criminal. I can only agree with Chris V. Why sit back and accept this slap in the face! SHAME ON EICHNER, SHAME ON THE MANHATTAN CLUB!
Becky F
steven w,
i think we all appreciate your professional, legal assessment/explanation of NY RULE AGAINST PERPETUITIES (very helpful to those who just want to be rid of TMC) which seems to indicate an experiential expertise regarding real property disposal and perhaps even timeshare litigation. i ask that you share some professional thoughts/ideas regarding some of the actual and proposed efforts being put forth by some owners in this forum. i am not asking for free legal services, simply your professional comments/assessments as an attorney and a fellow TMC owner. there are many owners' thoughts flowing through this forum: 1..joining zimmerman..............2.joining the coalition (exclusively, or in addition to joining zimmerman).............3.wait and see(do nothing yet)..................4"get me out of this timeshare, even if i lose my purchase price".....the list goes on. perhaps you'd be generous enough with your fellow TMC owners to share some professional direction with us owners.
THANK YOU from me (and i assume, many other contributors to this redweek.com forum.)
chris
Chris V.
Last edited by chrisv126 on Nov 09, 2018 06:28 PM
What is needed is legislation. All timeshares should have an exit program. What one does when younger becomes no longer feasible or wanted in later years because of age and because of all the costs that are added, whether it be by the timeshare companies or the exchange companies. We now have added to the brew companies that will get you out of your timeshare for a fee. The whole industry is fraught with scams. There are no regulations and the organization that gets your money purportedly to help you, helps the developer. Nip it in the bud.
Laura H.