Manhattan Club Lawsuit

Hey johnb2353 and ALL: it would really be great if we could all get on the same page with what's going on. Is there a way we can have a lawsuit status page to refer to and that's maintained by the legal firm handling the case? I'll do it if I know who to contact. Please advise.

We tried to schedule our Jr. week and was told that there were no dates available except one night stays all the way to our final date in October. We joined RCI and deposited a week there. I then pulled up RCI dates available for rent and found 41 4-day periods for rent , both for studios and for 1 bedrooms - a total of 82 4-day periods. The price ranged from $360 per night to over $500. There was availability in every month.

I am new to this group, but have been reading and writing posts on the Yahoo group site: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/manhattanclubowners/info We need to be all in one place! Would you all consider joining that site? We have recently tried to write lots of letters to the MC Timeshare Board, Governor, etc. etc. and we have contacted 60 Minutes. There is a discussion about picketing. There are two Facebook pages...check out Manhattan Club Timeshare Scam there and post post post. We referred 60 Minutes to that site, and I will write again and tell them to read the stories here. (There is also a Facebook site for Disgruntled Owners). We can at least be visible if someone smarter than we were checks out the MC on the internet before they buy.

Dear franciam2 ! Your suggestion to get together on the base of the site https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/manhattanclubowners/info is a good approach to activate the TMC efforts and power. I have been a yahoo group member for quite a while. Unfortunately I have to say that many of the yahoo group member's email addresses, including mine, were hacked. You might suggest who were the hackers.

This type of situation is exactly why I hired an attorney and got out of the Manhattan Club. I didn't have time to wait for the class action suit. It looks promising this year, but is moving slowly.

There is information about the lawsuit and the letter writing campaign that might help it on the Yahoo group site today.

I don't know anything about hacking and how it occurs and to whom. I was not hacked through the yahoo group. I am sorry fibon was. I don't know how I would be able to suggest who the hackers were.

To fibon, do you have a yahoo email address? The hacking may have more to do with yahoo mail address than with the discussion group site for MC owners. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/31/us-yahoo-hack-idUSBREA0T21H20140131

David --There are two legal issues going on here. There is the class action law suit which, in my opinion, will move slowly. Then there are individuals like me who have gotten out using private attorneys. I am no longer an owner. I got out using my attorney who did a fine job for me. I do not know what the timetable for the class action suit is, but I was not willing to wait for it. John

Dear Johnb, Could I also have the name of your lawyer who got you out of the MC mess? franciemann@gmail.com He/she will have a brisk business!

note above: there are 16 pages of our comments from at least 2 years ago. folks, we owners are still in the clutches of mc fraud, lies and scam, not to mention the inequitable and outrageous amount of our maintenance fees. and what are we doing?: writing our various legitimate complaints in this forum ad nauseum and to no avail. lawsuit? why no comments from blau, the attorney? our complaints should be directed to the nys attorney general, his nyc deputy, may de blasio, the ny press and media. go to youtube and type in "manhattan club scam;" eichner has his plan all spelled out, as well as how our weeks went from $10,000 per to (currently) upwards of $35,000. eichner practically admits to overselling the weeks making it just about impossible to get a reservation within a reasonable time.............does anybody smell greed or fraud? take careful note fellow MANHATTAN CLUB OWNERS. ACT AND REACT ACCORDINGLY, BUT ACT. THE LAWSUIT IS ONLY ONE AVENUE WHICH WAS UNSUCCESSFUL LAST TIME AROUND. NOW LET'S GET GOING WITH THE OTHER SUGGESTED ACTIONS OUTLINED ABOVE.....AND IF I LEFT OUT ANY, FEEL FREE TO MAKE FURTHER PROACTIVE SUGGESTIONS.

franciemann -- Yes, I will e-mail you my attorney's information. She already does have a brisk business. The timeshare industry is one of her specializations.

Please send your attorney's information to me as well-clwilder@optonline.net Thanks

The 3rd lawsuit (Bisk vs The Manhattan Club Timeshare Association) is in progress as of this moment. All exhibits are publicly available as are the hilarious transcripts of the motion hearings in front of the judge. (Read as the Manhattan Club Timeshare Association attorney tells the judge there is absolutely no problem.) This case is before a New York State Judge. New York Supreme Court CASE# 652662-2013 Here's the link to get to the case file: http://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/iscroll/SQLData.jsp?IndexNo=652662-2013 Facts presented include: There are 18,480 flex units sold, 286 units, 52 weeks = 69 units short each week, IF all units available went to owners. - The Manhattan Club Timeshare Association (a NY non-profit) board is controlled by the SPONSOR ( the Eichers) which hires a for profit company URBAN (owned by the Eichers) to run the Manhattan Club and reservation system for a fee of 20% of Owners Maintenance Fees plus general public Rental. See anything wrong here? IMHO - The owners of the real estate and payers of the real estate taxes need the ability to assure operation is in their rather than URBAN (Eichers) fiduciary interest. It is not a stretch to believe that a contract as brutal as a time share contract must have a balancing fairness provision to assure that the buyer can actually be delivered what it is that they bought.

You can access this case and the fascinating exhibits on the NY Courts public access system at: http://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/iscroll/SQLData.jsp?IndexNo=652662-2013 This case is filed in the Supreme Court of NY, County of NY so the class they are looking for is just those NY residents. Document #88 shows the total 18,480 owners as of 11/30/2012. 3,826 from NY. Any changes forced on the Eicher controlled Association and URBAN will benefit us all and return value to our units if they can actually be reserved. When discovery starts this will be really interesting.

Charles,

Will be happy to send it. Watch your e-mail. J

@Johnd2026 - thank you so much for your informational posting on the Manhattan Club law suite.

Manhattan Club uses the TMC yahoogroup owners' correspondence as their Exhibit at the law suite. It is amazing, isn't it ?! ( Exhibit 20, could be accessed at: https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/fbem/DocumentDisplayServlet?documentId=9lR0PlC4N_PLUS_v1j3t1bzvHdQ==&system=prod).

I thought emails are not accepted by the court.

In the meantime, when the case is publicly exposed, may the owners cc their AG letters to the Judge as well? Would it help to make the case stronger?

I find one of the biggest mischaracterization is by Manhattan Clubs Lawyer that the majority of owners are happy with the product. We are all very happy to own what has become a liability instead of an asset. Instead of being able to sell this piece of the apple, or even being able to give it away, Manhattan Club offers us the opportunity to prepay the next years maintenance fees (~2500) for the opportunity to get on a list where they might take it back. I am sure the majority of owners are happy with this. We are also so happy to own something that we cannot essentially reserve.

I wonder why there seems to be no mention of the management fees increasing to 20% in the suit. When I purchased it was capped at 15% and the developer controlled board decided to essentially give the developer a raise. To me that does not seem like it was legal. I think class action should try to recover this 5% overcharge for every Manhattan Club owner for the ~10 years we have been overpaying. This would be millions.

Why is anyone paying the dues when you cannot utilize the accommodations. I for one am not paying them. Don't they have to repossess the property if one refuses/fails to make payment?

Is there any way to expand the class action law suit to all members? It is a travesty that owners who are spending 2500 dollars a year in maintenance fees cannot get a night to use in a nine month time frame while non-owners can rent a manhattan club room at the last minute through trip advisor or hotels.com! There are NO Manhattan club owners who are "happy". If we could use it, maybe we'd be happy! I was told by a Manhattan club "representative" who came to my house that I should trade my club membership for RCI points and then I may be able to get into the club. I didn't spend $28,000 and yearly maintenance fees up to $2500 now to use RCI points! This is literally a crime and these guys should be sent to jail! Isn't it an interstate crime to be marketing sales to people from other states with the knowledge that the product you are selling is a scam?