San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Judge rules for Trump firm in golf course fight
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump’s company can keep running a public golf course in the Bronx, a judge ruled, saying New York City offered a baseless rationale for canceling the Trump Organization’s contract after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last year.
The ruling sends the matter back to the city “for further proceedings.” The city Law Department said it was disappointed in the decision and was reviewing legal options. The Trump Organization declared the decision a victory and called city’s move to cancel the contract to operate the Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point Park “nothing more than a political vendetta.”
Days after Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol to try to stop the certification of President Biden’s victory on Jan. 6, 2021, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio announced he was scrapping the golf course contract. De Blasio said Trump incited the insurrection by whipping up the rioters.
Trump has denied that he bears any responsibility for the violence on Jan. 6. Instead, he has said that the 2020 election drove his supporters to action and that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others failed to provide adequate security.
Around the same time, the PGA of America canceled an upcoming tournament at one of Trump’s golf clubs in New Jersey. De Blasio seized upon that decision as evidence that Trump had breached what the city characterized as a contract
Patrons play in 2021 at Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point Park in the Bronx borough of New York City. A court ruled in favor of the Trump Organization in a contract dispute with the city.
requirement to maintain a course that could attract professional tournaments.
De Blasio and Biden are Democrats. Trump is a Republican, and his company’s statement Friday accused de Blasio of using city agencies “to advance his own partisan agenda, score political points among his minions and interfere with free enterprise.”
Many lawyers were doubtful
from the start that the city would prevail. The contract terms never stated that Trump is required to attract tournaments, obliging him only to maintain a course that is “firstclass, tournament quality.”
Manhattan state court Judge Debra James agreed that nothing in the contract required Trump’s company to attract professional tournaments. The city’s claim that the Trump
Organization breached the contract “lacks any legal foundation,” James wrote.
The contract allowed for the city to cancel without citing a cause. But the city would then be obligated to compensate the Trump Organization for building a clubhouse on the course.