Donald Trump’s Involvement In 3,500 Lawsuits Is Unprecedented For A Presidential Candidate, Analysis Finds
By Sean Colarossi on Wed, Jun 1st, 2016 at 9:59 pm
The most widely covered suit is the case surrounding the spray-tanned billionaire's fraudulent Trump University, where the GOP candidate knowingly scammed people.
Donald Trump is not one to shy away from lawsuits. Any prominent figure – from politicians to comedians to journalists – who dares to tell the truth about the presumptive GOP nominee will likely be threatened by some type of frivolous legal action.
As the report notes, “[The lawsuits] range from skirmishes with casino patrons to million-dollar real estate suits to personal defamation lawsuits.”
The analysis also found that at least 70 cases have been filed by and against Trump just since he announced his candidacy last summer. The most widely covered of the suits is the recent case surrounding the spray-tanned billionaire’s fraudulent Trump University, where the GOP candidate knowingly scammed people into handing over money without any return on their investment.
And even though Trump repeatedly claims that he never settles lawsuits, USA TODAY found at least 100 cases where the New York con man did, in fact, settle. The news organization also reports:
The legal actions provide clues to the leadership style the billionaire businessman would bring to bear as commander in chief. He sometimes responds to even small disputes with overwhelming legal force. He doesn’t hesitate to deploy his wealth and legal firepower against adversaries with limited resources, such as homeowners. He sometimes refuses to pay real estate brokers, lawyers and other vendors.
If there is one thing this analysis confirms, it’s that Donald Trump really isn’t a great negotiator after all. He is just a man who throws money at frivolous lawsuits when he doesn’t get his way, which is apparently more often than not. As president, it’s unclear what Trump would do when he doesn’t get his way since presidents can’t simply sue their way out of trouble.
The more we learn about Trump’s past behavior, the more apparent it is that he probably shouldn’t be living in the White House.
As Hillary Clinton said today in New Jersey, “It’s important that we recognize what he has done because that’s usually a pretty good indicator of what he will do. And on issue after issue, he is someone who is unqualified and unfit to be the president of the United States.”
Exclusive: Trump's 3,500 lawsuits unprecedented for a presidential nominee
Nick Penzenstadler and Susan Page, USA TODAY 8:21 a.m. EDT June 2, 2016
Our project found about 3,500 legal actions involving Trump, including 1,900 where he or his companies were a plaintiff and about 1,300 in which he was the defendant. Due to his branding value, Trump is determined to defend his name and reputation. Kelly Jordan, USA TODAY
Donald Trump is a fighter, famous for legal skirmishes over everything from his golf courses to his tax bills to Trump University. But until now, it hasn’t been clear precisely how litigious he is and what that might portend for a Trump presidency.
An exclusive USA TODAY analysis of legal filings across the United States finds that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and his businesses have been involved in at least 3,500 legal actions in federal and state courts during the past three decades. They range from skirmishes with casino patrons to million-dollar real estate suits to personal defamation lawsuits.
The sheer volume of lawsuits is unprecedented for a presidential nominee. No candidate of a major party has had anything approaching the number of Trump’s courtroom entanglements.
Just since he announced his candidacy a year ago, at least 70 new cases have been filed, about evenly divided between lawsuits filed by him and his companies and those filed against them. And the records review found at least 50 civil lawsuits remain open even as he moves toward claiming the nomination at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in seven weeks. On Tuesday, court documents were released in one of the most dramatic current cases, filed in California by former students accusing Trump University of fraudulent and misleading behavior.
The legal actions provide clues to the leadership style the billionaire businessman would bring to bear as commander in chief. He sometimes responds to even small disputes with overwhelming legal force. He doesn’t hesitate to deploy his wealth and legal firepower against adversaries with limited resources, such as homeowners. He sometimes refuses to pay real estate brokers, lawyers and other vendors.
As he campaigns, Trump often touts his skills as a negotiator. The analysis shows that lawsuits are one of his primary negotiating tools. He turns to litigation to distance himself from failing projects that relied on the Trump brand to secure investments. As USA TODAY previously reported, he also uses the legal system to haggle over his property tax bills. His companies have been involved in more than 100 tax disputes, and the New York State Department of Finance has obtained liens on Trump properties for unpaid tax bills at least three dozen times.
And despite his boasts on the campaign trail that he “never” settles lawsuits, for fear of encouraging more, he and his businesses have settled with plaintiffs in at least 100 cases reviewed by USA TODAY. Most involve people who say they were physically injured at Trump properties, with settlements that range as high as hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Alan Garten, general counsel for the Trump Organization, said in an interview that the number and tenor of the court cases is the “cost of doing business” and on par with other companies of a similar size. "I think we have far less litigation of companies of our size," he said.
However, even by those measures, the number of cases in which Trump is involved is extraordinary. For comparison, USA TODAY analyzed the legal involvement for five top real-estate business executives: Edward DeBartolo, shopping-center developer and former San Francisco 49ers owner; Donald Bren, Irvine Company chairman and owner; Stephen Ross, Time Warner Center developer; Sam Zell, Chicago real-estate magnate; and Larry Silverstein, a New York developer famous for his involvement in the World Trade Center properties.
To maintain an apples-to-apples comparison, only actions that used the developers' names were included. The analysis found Trump has been involved in more legal skirmishes than all five of the others — combined.
Trump lawsuits by the numbers
USA TODAY NETWORK journalists identified about 3,500 state and federal court cases involving Donald Trump and the more than 500 companies on his federal financial disclosure report and previous holdings. They break down like this. The figures are rounded because the USA TODAY search and review of cases is ongoing
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