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Re: Manhattan Club Lawsuit (by Sue O.):

I am replying to the question about WHO is this lawyer and why do they think they can win. I am one of two owners (me and Margo) who spoke to Mr Zimmerman in detail about the issue and after many many hours of my own time here, I feel this is a very good shot for all of us. I have spent countless hours of my own time and so has Margo tracking down information, answering facebook posts, private messages and trying to keep Redweek updated. Here is the post from FEBRUARY.

Jean Marc Zimmerman reply (2/26/18): "It is exactly because we are not “specialists” in real estate law that we are able to look that this case and see the flaws in the prior efforts made to secure recovery against the Eichners.

We are indeed intellectual property lawyers, but we both have significant experience handling various types of cases. Mr. Hoffberg is of counsel to Tully Rinckey PLLC, which has extensive experience representing individuals against adversaries with far greater resources, and doing so in a manner where the amount at stake for the individual client does not justify a big-law firm approach. I have decades-long success asserting claims in complicated cases against large corporations represented by some of the largest law firms in the nation.

We see a key feature in the unsuccessful prior efforts brought against the Eichners to have been a lack of diligence in failing to secure evidence at the commencement of the action to address and overcome the Eichners’ Motions to Dismiss such efforts. Indeed, we believe that this type of evidence is available, but must be harnessed. Another key feature is to treat each claimant as an individual, requiring the Eichners to address dismissal of each claimant’s defenses individually. Further, because the interests of the claimants may be distinct, it may be possible to assert claims in such a way that the Eichners are forced to assert inconsistent positions in responding to such claims.

We never indicated that this would be an easy case, and have every reason to believe that the contest will be vigorous. But, the so-called “experts” in real estate law have all failed before, precisely because they play by the same losing rulebook, and failed to invest in the key pre-filing investigation and amassing of evidence that we hope to complete. Also, Schneiderman’s case provides us with valuable admissions, at least for a limited period of time, that were unavailable in prior cases.

Finally, our strategy is to at least consider asserting claims against other parties than those involved in prior cases, such as the Timeshare Association and its Board of Directors (especially the non-sponsor directors), the room resellers, and others who were at least peripherally involved in the alleged frauds at issue.

We invite the various owners to select counsel they feel most comfortable with, and indeed our strategy is not to run a class action lawsuit, but rather to move forward with sets of claims that permit us to move toward “reasonable” settlements that meet the owner’s respective interests. In doing so, we are cognizant of the fact that this case involves real people who have suffered real losses, and given the failed efforts by others, we seek to therefore employ innovative approaches and strategies in order to maximize each owner’s recovery.

As for cost, we make no pretense that the owners will not incur some legal fees, and perhaps fund investigation of blind alleys. However, as a group whose resources can be pooled, the cost to each individual owner will be limited. Although we are unable to guarantee a particular result, we believe that our multi-pronged approach focusing both on the variety of wrongs committed by various actors associated with The Manhattan Club and the inherent value of the Manhattan Club Building itself will enable us to prevail in our efforts on your behalf.

Jean-Marc Zimmerman Thanks, JM

Jean-Marc Zimmerman Zimmerman Law Group 233 Watchung Fork Westfield, NJ 07090 Tel: (908) 768-6408 Fax: (908) 935-0751