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MoJo, The Trump Files: Trump's Long History of Getting Sued By His Own Lawyers
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/trump-files-time-trumps-lawyers-sued-trumpDuring his decades in the real estate world, Donald Trump famously shortchanged many small businesses on the money he owed them. The list includes companies that worked on Trump's properties or supplied him with chandeliers, pianos, marble, and other luxury touches. But Trump also tried to underpay the very same lawyers who helped him save money, and some ended up suing their former client.
As our own Hannah Levintova reported in March, the Atlantic City law firm of Levine Staller saved one of Trump's companies tens of millions of dollars in taxes—and then sued the company, Trump Entertainment, after the business tried to pay Levine Staller $1.25 million less than the firm was owed.
-snip-
It wasn't an isolated case. Trump underpaid at least four law firms or lawyers who worked for him, according to various news outlets that looked into Trump's history of cheating his contractors. One of them, Morrison Cohen LLP of New York City, had represented Trump in a lawsuit against a construction contractor that Trump claimed had overcharged him for work on golf course. According to USA Today, Trump sued Morrison Cohen for using the case to help promote its work, and the firm countersued for almost $500,000 in unpaid bills. The case was settled in 2009.
It wasn't just big amounts Trump tried to get out of paying, either. Bill Scherer, a lawyer in Fort Lauderdale, had to sue Trump in 1994 to collect $5,000 in unpaid legal bills from a case Scherer won for the billionaire. The lawyer told Reuters last year he had offered Trump a low rate to "curry favor" with the mogul, but still had to sue. "He's a deadbeat," Scherer told South Florida's Sun-Sentinel newspaper. Trump told Reuters that he couldn't remember Scherer or the case at all.
As our own Hannah Levintova reported in March, the Atlantic City law firm of Levine Staller saved one of Trump's companies tens of millions of dollars in taxes—and then sued the company, Trump Entertainment, after the business tried to pay Levine Staller $1.25 million less than the firm was owed.
-snip-
It wasn't an isolated case. Trump underpaid at least four law firms or lawyers who worked for him, according to various news outlets that looked into Trump's history of cheating his contractors. One of them, Morrison Cohen LLP of New York City, had represented Trump in a lawsuit against a construction contractor that Trump claimed had overcharged him for work on golf course. According to USA Today, Trump sued Morrison Cohen for using the case to help promote its work, and the firm countersued for almost $500,000 in unpaid bills. The case was settled in 2009.
It wasn't just big amounts Trump tried to get out of paying, either. Bill Scherer, a lawyer in Fort Lauderdale, had to sue Trump in 1994 to collect $5,000 in unpaid legal bills from a case Scherer won for the billionaire. The lawyer told Reuters last year he had offered Trump a low rate to "curry favor" with the mogul, but still had to sue. "He's a deadbeat," Scherer told South Florida's Sun-Sentinel newspaper. Trump told Reuters that he couldn't remember Scherer or the case at all.
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