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Re: Manhattan Club Lawsuit (by Fibo N.):
Arizona settlement releases timeshare owners from contracts with Diamond Resorts
Lately, in 2015-2017, there were numerous successful lawsuits against the so called "membership for life" industry including timeshare resorts. It's obvious that industry will crash unless it changes the rules.
One of the similar to the MC cases was settled by the Arizona Attorney General vs Diamond Resorts Corporation. Some of the alleged deceptions were related to the amount maintenance fees could increase annually, fraud disclosures during timeshare sales presentations, consumers' ability to resell time-shares to the public, the existence of Diamond buy-back programs, and consumers' ability to rent out their time-shares for a profit. The settlement required to pay the State a total of $800,000, of which $650,000 will be used for consumer restitution for qualifying claims filed and $150,000 for the State’s attorneys’ fees and costs.
The most prominent result of settlement is the establishment of a Relinquishment Remedy Program that allows qualifying consumers, who no longer want their timeshares, to return them to Diamond with no further obligations. An owner may qualify for the relinquishment program if the owner meets some criterias such as: an owner purchased membership in Arizona; an owner purchased from Diamond based on misleading or untrue statements that Diamond employees made during sales presentations; a consumer files a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office within 6 (or 5?)months since the settlement. The consumer complaint MUST include a detailed description of any misrepresentation(s), false or deceptive statement(s), and/or false promise(s) that Diamond’s employees made at the purchase.
Looking at the Arizona case, there is a good chance for lawsuits vs Manhattan Club in the near future.
See article https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2017/05/18/timeshare-holders-released-contracts-following-deceptive-sales-practices/329107001/