Original Message:
The Manhattan Club Lawsuit - RedWeek's Report & Most Recent Info (by Corinne S.):
I am the person who originally found Mr. Blau and my spouse and I were lead plaintiffs in the first lawsuit filings, one in Federal Court so ALL owners would be represented in the class (which I strongly believe was only dismissed because of the judge having a connection with Eichner) and the second which was also a State Supreme Court case like the current case, with me as lead plaintiff, which was dismissed & wasn't even looked at because my name was there. The Court papers say that the dismissal was because I'm married to the person under which the Federal Case was dismissed. The merits weren't even looked at in that first State Supreme Court suit! I have copies of the paperwork.
Secondly, there is no list of owners so it had bee8n VERY hard to get a true feel for all this HAPPINESS they speak of. None I have spoken to when at TMC have been happy. There were people who wanted to maintain a good reputation so they could potentially sell and get their money back. I can assure you that NO OWNERS are happy about the maintenance fees.
TMC Representatives are now working so hard to get people to deposit their time with RCI that at least one couple was visited WHILE OUT of STATE ON VACATION to be convinced to partake in this. Also, there is now a $0 to $100 "take back" offer by TMC for one of two reasons. First, they want to resell high end ownerships AGAIN for tens of thousands of dollars and second, despite THREATENING PHONE CALLS SEVERAL TIMES A DAY if fees aren't paid EARLY (WE'LL WREAK YOUR CREDIT), ONLY RECENTLY, after the lawsuit wasn't dismissed this time, they are taking units back that are in arrears to "get rid" of these troublesome people. Of course, they refused, in quite an interesting letter, to NOT take back our unit (we're paid up) because we filed lawsuits against them. Says so right in the letter. Is TMC Running a bit Scared, finally?
Regarding the Holy Grail aka The Offering Plan, ask the NYS Attorney General's office about the number of amendments that are continually filed, changing all types of things. Since owners NEVER GET COPIES OF THE CHANGES, we asked for copies under FOIA. In our case, the type of unit they sold us doesn't exist anymore. Just the amendments would cost hundreds of dollars at 10 cents per page (at the time) for only a few years of amendments! At the timeshare I own in Florida, we are sent any amendments to add to the offering plan. This other timeshare also does not REQUIRE ATTENDANCE AT THE ANNUAL OWNERS TIMESHARE BOARD MEETING TO VOTE FOR OWNER REPRESENTATIVES. This is so rigged at TMC that Management Personnel ALWAYS HOLDS THE Higher Positions!! We get proxy voting rights at my other timeshare and management does not hold ALL the strings. In addition at TMC, if any negative topics are brought up by owners, they are asked to leave!
Having to hire a Public Relations Specialist, in and if itself, is very telling. With all their threats of foreclosure and ruining credit (I keep recordings on my answering machine), how many times do they actually follow through? I haven't found any recent filings in Court Documents. In addition, there have been individual owners who have filed lawsuits for the same reasons, on close inspection of Court records. Frankly, I've stopped digging into the records due to exhaustion so am currently unaware of the outcomes.
Did you know that the major conglomerate, Textron, was part owner at TMC but dropped them? Eichner DID NOT DEVELOP ANYTHING IN LAS VEGAS! He bought what is now the Cosmopolitan, filed bankruptcy and Deutche Bank DEVELOPED THE HOTEL CASINO THEMSELVES and it is one of the MOST POPULAR places in Vegas, very high end. Eichner has done some very, very nasty things to people over the years to get his way (building a high rise in Brooklyn where the community had restrictions regarding blocking the view, doing the same thing in South Beach. The politicians he gave monies to in NYC are no longer the. Coincidence that the case hasn't been dismissed? And the other high rise in Manhattan (see Real Estate articles in several NYC business journals) in which he he made a mess for everyone...I think it is an ugly high rise apartment building downtown or close to that location. It's been a while since I addressed all these details in my investigations so my apologies for not being more specific.
Bottom line is that the people involved with TMC are crooks. I've already gotten a letter from one of their attorneys threatening a personal lawsuit for harassment, of all things, for speaking the truth. There's still more action that can be taken and we will be looking into that area. I'm really glad the AG's office was contacted by a third party. Hundreds of complaints have been filed in the past 10 years, even if they won't admit it.
Thanks to Redweek for having an Investigative Journalist cover this story!
And apologies for any typos, etc. I'm writing on my cell phone and cannot easily check for needed corrections.
Corinne Smith
Having trouble sifting through the sea of Manhattan Club complaints spanning several years, you're not alone. Lawsuits have been brought and dropped, but there is a case alive & well in the New York courts, with the next court date set for April 14, 2014.
Our reporter, Jeff Weir, dug into the details and has written this report on the current situation:
http://www.redweek.com/resources/ask-redweek/manhattan-club-lawsuit-info
Let us know what you think.
We will use this forum to post updates as often as we get them.