Class action suits re timeshare developers

[dazedmose]

Is There Any Available Information Regarding How To
Organize Time Share Owners Into Filing Class Action
Suits With Various State Attorneys General, Or Us Dept.
Of Justice, Regarding The Stonewalling Of
Timeshare Owners In Disposing Of Their Timeshares???

These Huge Organizations, Like Marriott And Starwood, Etc.,
Induced Clients To Buy Into Deeded Timeshares, In Many Cases,
While Also Indicating The Weeks, Units, Could Be Sold Back
To Them(???) Or To Individuals. However, If Sold The Buyer
Could Not Participate In The Reward System, Such As Star
Points, Etc., Insuring Unfair Competitive Advantage For The
Developer Who Was Still Selling Shares.....versus The Owners
Who Could Sell But Without Participation In Reward Programs.
In Fact, In Most Cases The Owners Lost Accumulated Points If The
Week, Unit, Was Sold Privately!

This Tied Up The Market In An Anti-competitive Way And Left The
Owners With Weeks They Could Not Sell Then...
And Now Cannot Sell Due To The Timeshare Crash. And, The Developers Will Not
Assist Owners In Disposition....or Even To Return The Shares
Free To Clear The Title And Avoid The Ludicrous Hoa Fees..which
Skyrocketed After The Initial Offering. Truly, Collusion At
The Developer Levels!!!

It Seems The Owners Have No Alternative But To Join In Class
Action Suits To Combat The Power Of The Huge Time Share
Corporations Who Are Acting In A Monopoly Fashion.

Does Anyone Have Ideas On How To Approach This And Where
To Find The Best Legal Advice???

Thanks....and If You Do Not Agree, I Am Sure You Will Reply
With Your Positions.....or Support If Warranted.

 

[DeniseM]

While I understand how you feel, these are huge corporations, with lots of smart lawyers and airtight contracts. And the contracts clearly state that only the written contract is binding - and verbal promises are not. In short - you don't have a chance.

Your time and money will be better spent either getting rid of your timeshare, or figuring out how to get the most out of it. We can help with that!

Good luck!

 

[timeos2]

Class actions have been tried with failures & so called success in the past. Even the alleged successes resulted in less than desired (and often negative for owners) results, huge costs paid to law firms (by the owners) and miniscule if any pay back to those owners.

They just don't seem to be an effective tool to change things.

 

[Mel]

Rather than a class action, which usually results in a group of lawyer making money, but no real positive outcome for anyone else other than the "named" plaintiffs, perhaps what you are looking for is a lawsuit on behalf of the membership. This has been done by the members of a few resorts with some level of success, but this was against smaller developers.

What is needed is someone to press the issue of whether the developer-appointed HOA board members are fulfilling their fiduciary responsibility to the members of the HOA. In the case of a right-to-use membership, this might not even apply, as they don't "own" anything. But for a deeded property, even if the developer maintains control, the board members have that legal responsibility to look out for the best interests of ALL owners.

One of my resorts was able to elect a new HOA Board and successfully filed suit against the developer and the previous board members, after he used money from an insurance settlement for purposes other than rebuilding the resort. We had a judgement (not a settlement) that didn't recover everything, but we got what we could, and if he ever makes it big again, we may still get the rest. But what you have to understand is that it takes money to file that lawsuit, and the very same people who believe they have been harmed by the developer will have to come up with that money. It's not a huge amount, when spread over that many owners, but many will ask if it's really worth it, since they are not guaranteed to win. The bigger the developer, the more lawyers they have to try to tie things up until the owners give up.

 

[am1]

You may be better off to lobby government. They are the ones who allow the developers to do what they do. Then allow lawsuits to drag on as they do, making sure everyone loses.

 

[ronparise]

You dont need to organize the owners, You need to find a greedy lawyer, that knows you have a case that he can win..or settle

A recent settlement with RCI means we former points owners will get $10 each..I read the lawyers will get hundreds of thousands...and I havent seen ant changes by RCI

Go to the Worldmark owners forum and read up on a recent settlement...it made no one happy, (except the lawyers) and Wyndham is still going strong

 

[Tia]

I don't know my one resort organized ts owners to vote off developer friends and we won a huge lawsuit , could of been millions more but we had ts owners siding with the developer costing $$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[pgnewarkboy]

You dont need to organize the owners, You need to find a greedy lawyer, that knows you have a case that he can win..or settle

A recent settlement with RCI means we former points owners will get $10 each..I read the lawyers will get hundreds of thousands...and I havent seen ant changes by RCI

Go to the Worldmark owners forum and read up on a recent settlement...it made no one happy, (except the lawyers) and Wyndham is still going strong

Ron I don't know you but you seem like a pretty nice intelligent guy. That is why I am bothering to make this post. "Greedy lawyers"? Really? You know, sticking people or groups with a label is a real problem for society. People and groups aren't like cans of vegetables. People labels don't adequately, or accurately describe who the person or group is under that label.

I understand it is a widespread habit. I think it is worth trying to break this one. Many many people and groups have been hurt by labelling.

 

[ronparise]

Ron I don't know you but you seem like a pretty nice intelligent guy. That is why I am bothering to make this post. "Greedy lawyers"? Really? You know, sticking people or groups with a label is a real problem for society. People and groups aren't like cans of vegetables. People labels don't adequately, or accurately describe who the person or group is under that label.

I understand it is a widespread habit. I think it is worth trying to break this one. Many many people and groups have been hurt by labelling.

I think that if you re read my post you will see just the opposite...I said that to mount a class action the op would have to find A greedy lawyer.

I know that all lawyers are not greedy. just the one that would take the ops case. You will note that my reference was to a single greedy lawyer. And I also suggested that he wouldnt find one. Which suggests that maybe there arent any greedy lawyers.

I know that there are classes that really have a case and have really been damaged, and lawyers that really do some good for that clas, like the guy in Erin Brockovitch, or Peter Angelos who was able to buy the Baltimore Orioles with his fees representing asbestos workers or John Travoltas character in "A Civil Action"

I just dont think that as a class, we timeshare owners have suffered that much, and that a lawyer that would create a class class around our damages would be....well....greedy. Witness the recent rci settlement...I dont feel that I was damaged...and if I was, $10 is not really fair compensation...(kind of a joke really) and I dont think RCI was really hurt, nor do I think their business practices will change that much as a result of the case....The only people that made out here, were the lawyers. You decide if they are greedy or not.

 

[dougp26364]

To date, the class actions the have been filed and successfully brought against timeshare entities have failed the owners/members they were suppose to support. IMHO they are a huge waste of time and the developers costs in the cases are simply passed along to owners in the form of increase MF's.

 

[BocaBum99]

Ron I don't know you but you seem like a pretty nice intelligent guy. That is why I am bothering to make this post. "Greedy lawyers"? Really? You know, sticking people or groups with a label is a real problem for society. People and groups aren't like cans of vegetables. People labels don't adequately, or accurately describe who the person or group is under that label.

I understand it is a widespread habit. I think it is worth trying to break this one. Many many people and groups have been hurt by labelling.

You are right. Not all lawyers are greedy. Some are scumbags. But all are hated. LOL.

 

[pgnewarkboy]

I think that if you re read my post you will see just the opposite...I said that to mount a class action the op would have to find A greedy lawyer.

I know that all lawyers are not greedy. just the one that would take the ops case. You will note that my reference was to a single greedy lawyer. And I also suggested that he wouldnt find one. Which suggests that maybe there arent any greedy lawyers.

I know that there are classes that really have a case and have really been damaged, and lawyers that really do some good for that clas, like the guy in Erin Brockovitch, or Peter Angelos who was able to buy the Baltimore Orioles with his fees representing asbestos workers or John Travoltas character in "A Civil Action"

I just dont think that as a class, we timeshare owners have suffered that much, and that a lawyer that would create a class class around our damages would be....well....greedy. Witness the recent rci settlement...I dont feel that I was damaged...and if I was, $10 is not really fair compensation...(kind of a joke really) and I dont think RCI was really hurt, nor do I think their business practices will change that much as a result of the case....The only people that made out here, were the lawyers. You decide if they are greedy or not.

OK. There could be many reasons besides greed a lawyer would take the ops case. Maybe it is a better case than you think. Maybe the lawyer doesn't realize it is a bad case and will lose lots of money pursuing the case. You are entitled to your opinion about the potential merits of the case and so is the potential lawyer. Attributing venal motives to hypothetical people is pretty dicey business. Attributing venal motives to actual people that you don't personally know is also dicey business. Just looking at the amount of a verdict or settlement and the legal fee does not tell the whole story. How many hours of work were put into the casee? Many class actio or individual suits require hundreds and thousands of man hours. Did the law firm recoup their costs even though to you it seems like a great deal of money?

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

[changed my mind]