Friends and Family play Trump card: a lawsuit

It was bound to happen. At least one of the so-called "friends and family" who bought condos in Trump Tower, only to have the contract canceled later pursuant to a developer "out" clause in the contract, is suing for, among other things, fraud and deceptive practices. I have not read the complaint, but fraud is a tough uphill battle in many instances. A deceptive practices count is less onerous to prove, however.

While I don't really agree with it personally, in a sense I see Trump's point. He wanted the right to back out of deals because they were not money-makers. I have not read his contract, but I'm sure he has an iron-clad right to back out of the deal for any or no reason, and the developer may well win because of it. On the other hand, the developer got the benefit of being able to tout pre-sales that probably (and in my opinion) either pushed the construction loan forward or got them better loan terms. (It is not my money, so it is easy -- too easy, perhaps -- to say that the morally right thing to do is to sell at less or no profit. I'd probably want a way out, too, if it were my money.) But this is Chicago, not New York, so we'll see what a judge says.