Legal News

The Donald Effusive After Settlement With Law Firm

By Ashby Jones

LBers, a question: Has the world ever seen a bigger publicity maven than Donald Trump? Seems to us it’s just a matter of time until we can watch the Apprentice on the Trump Channel while flying in Trump Class on Trump Air. Donald, Donald, Donald. Trump, Trump, Trump.

In any event, there was one place the Donald didn’t like seeing his name — on advertisements fashioned by the law firm Morrison Cohen. Trump sued Morrison Cohen last year for mentioning his name on its Web site. Trump’s $5 million lawsuit alleged that by touting its work for “the world-renowned Donald J. Trump,” Morrison Cohen invaded his privacy and “engaged in the rank commercialization of Mr. Trump’s reputation and unyielding demand for excellence.”

Pretty good so far, but just wait. The story, brought to us by the NY Post, gets better.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Eileen Bransten dismissed his suit in a decision made public on Tuesday, but Trump told the Post that the suit actually settled last week and he’s now fine with his name being mentioned on their site. “We’re very happy with the settlement,” he told the Post.

The firm had represented Trump Briarcliff Manor Development in an action against a contractor Trump claimed had overcharged for work it had done on the Trump National Golf Club. The case ended with Trump collecting over $5 million. Trump said the recovery wasn’t enough and felt he’d gotten overbilled.

“I have a Ph.D. in legal fees. I know when fees are fair and when they are not,” Trump told the New York Law Journal last year. Click here for an earlier LB post on the suit.

The Manhattan lawsuit and a related action settled last week, when, a source close to the case told the Post that Morrison Cohen agreed to reduce the almost $700,000 it was seeking in fees to almost half that amount.

The settlement notwithstanding, Judge Bransten issued a 15-page ruling dismissing Trump’s Manhattan suit. She found there was nothing wrong with linking to the various news stories mentioning Trump’s involvement with the firm, because they concerned “matters of public interest.”

The Donald told the Post that he had no hard feelings about coming out on the losing end of Bransten’s decision, not a huge surprise given that it was, as the Post states, “trumped by the settlement.” Said Trump: “She’s a wonderful judge.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on July 22, 2009 (boomark / email).