Lawsuit Against Westgate Resorts Pays Off When Timeshare Fraud Complaints Lead To Class Action Lawsuits

Lawsuit against Westgate Resorts plasters onto headlines all over the world. Who can blame them? A Florida man bought a Westgate vacation club to enjoy with his family and friends. Ten months later and thousands of dollars in debt, he suddenly had to file bankruptcy. This case has been turned into a TV movie and featured on numerous news shows.

Complaint states that Westgate Resorts is seeking to dismiss class-action lawsuit involving the timeshare issue. According to the news reports, “The company claims that the lawsuit was brought upon by a group of brokers who were attempting to arrange timeshares without checking the facts of the deal with the timeshare unit owners.” Details: Westgate Lakes wishes to state, “After careful review of the facts of this matter, it is not clear that the complaint was brought on defamatory or improper motives.” If true, that would make this case unique among the dozens of cases brought against Westgate.

The Florida lawsuit revolves around a plan put into place by the National Park Service to remove several cabraser sites in Florida that attract crowds of people who like to cruise the area. The defendants in the case are the National Park Service and Disney, which owns the property where the Cabraser Parks are located. In signing their agreement to purchase timeshares in the park, plaintiffs were obligated to purchase units that were located in such “designated zones.” It appears that the National Park Service was too inclusive of the plaintiffs and did not provide information detailing the areas where the units should be located.

A number of plaintiffs from Tennessee brought a lawsuit against Westgate claiming that they were misled into purchasing units at the Cabraser properties when they should have been educated that the Cabraser Park is not part of the National Park System. Also stated in the lawsuit is, “Plaintiffs were never given the opportunity to explore the possibility of transferring their time share for a unit at the Cabraser site if they so desire.” This is an obvious violation of the terms of the agreement. In short, this case is more about economics than ethics when it comes to purchasing a timeshare unit at one of the Westgate properties.

Plaintiffs in the same lawsuit, brought by two other plaintiffs in Tennessee, claim that Westgate and their marketing company Promark, “purposefully” misled the Cabraser owners into thinking that the units would allow them access to “free” entertainment during the months of winter when it is unlikely that the weather in the Cabraser Park will be cooperative. They further claim that Promark “misrepresented” that the “free” entertainment was included in the price of the timeshare units. Additionally, plaintiffs further claim that Westgate and Promark failed to properly inform the Cabraser owners that there would be significant maintenance costs involved in operating the Westgate properties. Finally, the claims are that Westgate and Promark did not train the Cabraser owners in proper handling of the units and did not provide any evidence that the operators of the units were trained in basic golf etiquette. It should be noted that neither of these situations are indicative of poor business practices by either company.

Not only does the foregoing situation suggest that a plaintiff may be able to establish a case of fraud or breach of contract by purchasing a timeshare at one of the Westgate properties, but the same could also apply to any other property owned by Westgate. For instance, plaintiffs may contend that they were subject to breaches of contract when they purchased units at either the Cabraser Park or the Grand Strip sites from Westgate. They further claim that those units contained defects which harmed their enjoyment of their vacation time at the timeshares. So whether or not the actual laws governing purchasing a timeshare at one of the Westgate properties will apply to any other property owned by Westgate is an issue for the courts to decide.

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