Manhattan Club Lawsuit

hello garyp151 and all other posters/frustrated owners (but no friendly "hello" to the TMC plants reading the posts):

There is a clear-cut way out, though laborious, time consuming, and requiring a disciplined approach. You need to do research, access the AG documents, and go to the courthouse often at 111 Centre Street, NY. Start by going to the court website and downloading the self-help guide on bring a case as your own lawyer (called PRO SE), and you can go to the court house for free consultation help and guidance in prosecuting your case.

Get your facts and paperwork together. Develop your argument for breach of contract (up to $25,000); add up your dollars lost on the purchase of the contract and its execution, broken promises made at point of sale, and evidence of how YOU'VE been denied access to your purchased services (access to TMC). Get the AG documents for INDEX 451536/2014 (court case), documents NYSCEF DOC. NO. 138, 329, 411 and the Assurance of Discontinuance, 17-149 as some of your evidence; it's freely available on the Court website.

Go to the Courthouse and file a COMPLAINT AND SUMMONS with the back up evidence to send with the summons, and pay the court clerk CASH (about $47 or so). Take your summons and have them served. You can ask the Sheriff at 66 John Street (2nd floor?), NY to serve the SUMMONS and pay them $86 by CHECK or MONEY ORDER (no cash), but be aware that the Sheriff will mail you the service documents which you have to file with the court at 111 Centre St. If you live out of town, it would be easier to pay a process server who will file the papers with the court for a fee.

You have to provide the Sheriff the address of service, and you can try serving at the address 200 W. 56th Street, NY 10019, or their O &T Park's Articles of Incorporation give ALLAN STARR, ESQ., STARR ASSOCIATES LLP, 245 FIFTH AVENUE, SUITE 1102, NEW YORK, NEW YORK, 10016 as the registered agent of service. When the papers are filed, I think you set up your first hearing date at the Court.

The defendants (Ian Bruce Eichner and whomever is on your sales/deed, like O Park, T Park or whomever) have to ANSWER you within a few weeks, and they'll basically say, not us, we didn't do it, you're the one at fault for buying it or something to that effect. You'll probably get some lawyer from Romer Debbas LLC as their current, contracted legal representatives.

Your next step is to serve INTERROGATORIES as part of Discovery. Keep your questions straightforward, simple, short answers. Avoid "all, every" type questions, no fishing expedition questions. Just ask for verification of the facts of your being denied access, incidences or timelines of their breach of contract with YOU, etc. You're not trying to convict them for criminal behavior or being frauds; you're trying to get your money back and get out of the contract. Keep it clean and cool.

They'll probably RESPOND to your discovery demands by basically saying irrelevant, doesn't address the issues, fatally flawed argument, etc. You'll have to file a NOTICE OF A MOTION TO COMPEL, and you take the MOTION to the judge to present why you need them to answer your questions/INTERROGATORIES to argue your case. You can look up all of these procedures online, get explanations and examples; be as specific as you can to New York Civil Courts.

Currently, the TMC principals are dealing with 4 civil suits and 2 tax suits. The internet is an awesome, incredible resource to learn the basics of being your own lawyer.

p. s. I would pay my maintenance fees to avoid them having anything over me for not holding up my end of the contract. I think the Court would look more favorably on me if I'm not in arrears.

Hello Thomas M.,

I'm not an attorney, but I read for detail. The quote you refer to says that BG agreed to stop reporting timeshares as foreclosed when they were only in arrears but had not yet gone through a legal foreclosure action. It said nothing about preventing BG from bringing foreclosure actions. BG probably went the (dubious) reporting route because it is far less expensive than actually bringing a foreclosure action and avoids the need to resell the unit in a dropping market while they still have a paying owner.

Since Joy sounds like an attorney perhaps she will weigh in.

It sounds like u are going through the process. Who has time for all that and will the outcome be pisitive?

What a great message Joy K. If I understood you correctly, in order to succeed you must prove you were denied use of your time. I wonder how that would work out if you attempted to book with little notice. How much lead time would be considered reasonable?

Joy your message is very thorough and accurate....BUT as I have now posted 2-3 times on this website, the easiest way to get out is to simply do a deed of gift, transferring the timeshare to NY State, NY City, the MC TimeshareOwners Club, the Orange/Haired narcissistic President, your disliked next door neighbor or whoever else you chose. Deliver the deed by mail,. Unless it is promptly rejected as a gift by returning it to you, CONGRATS TO THE NEW OWNER! Send a letter to whoever sends the maintenance bills as to the change of ownership. Done. Alternative is to bequeath it by your Will.

joyk42 wrote:

hello garyp151 and all other posters/frustrated owners (but no friendly "hello" to the TMC plants reading the posts):

There is a clear-cut way out, though laborious, time consuming, and requiring a disciplined approach. You need to do research, access the AG documents, and go to the courthouse often at 111 Centre Street, NY. Start by going to the court website and downloading the self-help guide on bring a case as your own lawyer (called PRO SE), and you can go to the court house for free consultation help and guidance in prosecuting your case.

Get your facts and paperwork together. Develop your argument for breach of contract (up to $25,000); add up your dollars lost on the purchase of the contract and its execution, broken promises made at point of sale, and evidence of how YOU'VE been denied access to your purchased services (access to TMC). Get the AG documents for INDEX 451536/2014 (court case), documents NYSCEF DOC. NO. 138, 329, 411 and the Assurance of Discontinuance, 17-149 as some of your evidence; it's freely available on the Court website.

Go to the Courthouse and file a COMPLAINT AND SUMMONS with the back up evidence to send with the summons, and pay the court clerk CASH (about $47 or so). Take your summons and have them served. You can ask the Sheriff at 66 John Street (2nd floor?), NY to serve the SUMMONS and pay them $86 by CHECK or MONEY ORDER (no cash), but be aware that the Sheriff will mail you the service documents which you have to file with the court at 111 Centre St. If you live out of town, it would be easier to pay a process server who will file the papers with the court for a fee.

You have to provide the Sheriff the address of service, and you can try serving at the address 200 W. 56th Street, NY 10019, or their O &T Park's Articles of Incorporation give ALLAN STARR, ESQ., STARR ASSOCIATES LLP, 245 FIFTH AVENUE, SUITE 1102, NEW YORK, NEW YORK, 10016 as the registered agent of service. When the papers are filed, I think you set up your first hearing date at the Court.

The defendants (Ian Bruce Eichner and whomever is on your sales/deed, like O Park, T Park or whomever) have to ANSWER you within a few weeks, and they'll basically say, not us, we didn't do it, you're the one at fault for buying it or something to that effect. You'll probably get some lawyer from Romer Debbas LLC as their current, contracted legal representatives.

Your next step is to serve INTERROGATORIES as part of Discovery. Keep your questions straightforward, simple, short answers. Avoid "all, every" type questions, no fishing expedition questions. Just ask for verification of the facts of your being denied access, incidences or timelines of their breach of contract with YOU, etc. You're not trying to convict them for criminal behavior or being frauds; you're trying to get your money back and get out of the contract. Keep it clean and cool.

They'll probably RESPOND to your discovery demands by basically saying irrelevant, doesn't address the issues, fatally flawed argument, etc. You'll have to file a NOTICE OF A MOTION TO COMPEL, and you take the MOTION to the judge to present why you need them to answer your questions/INTERROGATORIES to argue your case. You can look up all of these procedures online, get explanations and examples; be as specific as you can to New York Civil Courts.

Currently, the TMC principals are dealing with 4 civil suits and 2 tax suits. The internet is an awesome, incredible resource to learn the basics of being your own lawyer.

p. s. I would pay my maintenance fees to avoid them having anything over me for not holding up my end of the contract. I think the Court would look more favorably on me if I'm not in arrears.

nathanz2 wrote:

Hello Thomas M.,

I'm not an attorney, but I read for detail. The quote you refer to says that BG agreed to stop reporting timeshares as foreclosed when they were only in arrears but had not yet gone through a legal foreclosure action. It said nothing about preventing BG from bringing foreclosure actions. BG probably went the (dubious) reporting route because it is far less expensive than actually bringing a foreclosure action and avoids the need to resell the unit in a dropping market while they still have a paying owner.

Since Joy sounds like an attorney perhaps she will weigh in.

Thanks for the clarification.

Anybody with comments/experience with "Wesley Financial"-an outfit that advertises a guarantees they'll get you out of time shares? They tell me they are handling TMC/BlueGreen.You pay them upfront fee,which you'll get back if they don't get you out.They'll pursue getting money,which they'll take 30% of.Based on their website,they are OK with Better Business Bureau,AARP,etc.

I don’t trust any companies that require money up front. While their own website says they are ok with BBB, AARP, etc, I recommend you check out the actual BBB website and others. Most of these timeshare release companies are not reputable.

Richard, I was tempted to try Wesley, but when I heard the cost up front was nearly $10,000. I backed away. I'm hoping the "deed give back scheme will eventually work for us. Bob M

I contacted the Wesley people about helping me out of TMC. They wanted an upfront fee of $8,750.00 which was way beyond my means and I declined their assistance. While they might try to recover part of my $33,000, there were, of course, no “guarantees” of help here. If, after three years (I believe), they are not able to extricate us from our TMC contract, they will refund my up front fee of $8,750.00. This, of course, assumes they are still in business at that point.

I was wondering about Wesley. Thanks for the information.

just my two cents but i looked a Timeshare Exit team two years ago, and even met personally with them - probably similar to Wesley. Do not give any money up front to a company like this - I think you would be better off sending the relatively nominal check(or credit card payment) to the Zimmerman Law Group along with many of us to try and fight this in court. I can't give you any guarantees either but I think it's a better option. I have met Jean Marc Zimmerman and feel he really is trying to help us.

I stopped paying this year and also just had a letter this week with an additional $340 for not paying. I’m not paying and have joined zimmerman team.

Nikkim91 What is the cost to join Zimmerman team? I have also stopped paying the maintenance fee this year.

I just received my notice of the annual meeting and read that there are 3 owners to be voted on to the Board. I noted that 2 of the 3 were previous TMC board members. I have concerns because we have had these ongoing problems at the Manhattan Club and I feel like we were not kept informed, that our maintenance fees continued to escalate without explanations to the other owners, that there was an ongoing investigation by the Attorney General's office which we were not informed of, and I feel like there was definitely a lack of transparency. I had been told we needed a fresh start with new blood so I'd like some feedback from these 2 under consideration as to why they should be re elected to our Board.

I have similar questions and would appreciate any feedback.

Thank you

Since only choice is "for" or "abstain"(this is a first time I've ever seen this- I believe proxies in general are ALWAYS "for" or "against"),I would think "abstain" is best way to go-if only as a protest.I agree 100% about these people,with particular gall that their resume says how they stand up for us and have worked to improve communication(!!).Has anyone ever heard from them or even communicated to us on how to reach them? I see we vote for 3 and sponsor does 4.I thought the AG settlement said the sponsor naming the majority of the board was to stop,but I guess this is only in the time frame(2020?)agreed to in the settlement?

Wesley wanted $4K which is one years maintenance for our 2 weeks,so was tempting just to get this behind us,assuming their"guarantee". I am interested in re-looking at Zimmerman-I sent him an email a while back,which he never replied to,and then I called and didn't get a good feeling(no apology for not replying to email,and general rush in getting rid of my call,unless I committed to join)

Richard Q, I agree abstain may be best option in protest to the do-nothing's, I tried to reach 1 of them by phone w no success. That person does not represent us very well. Also re getting out: consider Steven W' s recommendation to just have your attorney draw papers to gift the TMC back to TMC sponsors.