Will the Trump University plaintiffs settle?
It looks like the biggest and darkest cloud hanging over the transition of newly elected President Donald Trump might be about to dry up and disappear. The judge in the Trump University fraud case is telling litigants they would be wise to settle their beef with the President-Elect. Trump’s attorneys have said they are open to negotiations, but no word yet on what sort of settlement agreement that may be. According to various media reports, the judge told both sides it would be a good idea to come to terms “given all else that’s involved.” The “all else” is likely the fact that the plaintiff in the case was just elected President. Trump doesn’t want this hanging over his head all the way to the inauguration, and the plaintiffs don’t want this to go up in smoke if Trump becomes untouchable. That might be easier said than done, though. Trump owned more than 90 percent of the now defunct business “university,” and, according to the complaint, he had control over all major decisions. The students who feel they were scammed don’t seem too likely to give up and go away. Meanwhile, Trump flatly denies any allegations of wrongdoing and blames those he hired to run the university for any bad faith dealings. At this point, the trial is still scheduled to begin
on November 28, and the two sides don’t seem too eager to come to terms. To the table, maybe, but they’re still pretty far apart on who should pay and how much. Trump’s lead attorney in the case is hoping to get a start date extension, due to the admittedly extraordinary scenario of his client being briefed on what his duties will be when he’s sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. The judge said he would allow both sides to offer reasons as to why they should or should not delay, and that he would consider them. In those statements, the judge also strongly suggested the two sides find a way to meet somewhere in the middle and get this thing done. Trump’s attorney said his client would probably be a bit more flexible now that he’s won the election, but he’s not on board with settling quite yet. If he does plan to settle it might serve Trump to do it soon. Every time someone reports on the case not only do they write all about the fraud allegations, using Trump’s name every other sentence, but they also mention that this is the judge who Trump said couldn’t be impartial because he was of Mexican descent. These statements, which many said revealed Trump to be a racist, rather than the actual allegations might be what hurts Trump’s brand and haunts him longer as he tries to unite the country going forward. Phil Shawe is the co-CEO of TransPerfect.