I’m reprinting this verbatim from the attorney’s office now handling the case.
Zimmerman Law Group Update to TMC Members:
Dear TMC Members: We are writing to provide an update on our progress in the TMC suit.
As many of you know, we filed a lawsuit on behalf of Mr. Robert Tucker, who was candidate for a non-sponsor Board position, to obtain TMC’s member list (presently maintained in confidence by TMC) in an effort to communicate with other members about remediating and obtaining redress for the wrongs TMC’s Sponsor admitted committing.
A hearing in Mr. Tucker’s case is next scheduled for December 12. While his lawsuit is not part of the action for which we have been retained by other members, Mr. Tucker may make this list available for contacting and organizing timeshare members. We are also engaged in other efforts to obtain the member list from TMC. Obtaining the list will eliminate the stranglehold that TMC’s Sponsor and management presently have on communications between members and allow members to organize and assert their rights. We therefore expect to soon be able to communicate directly with all TMC members about our planned suit. To date, only the Sponsor and management substantially benefit from the continued existence of TMC in its current form. We seek to change that. Our plan is to access the equity locked in the TMC building in addition to seeking damages from the Sponsor and management for their respective wrongs, including charging excessive maintenance fees, renting members’ rooms online to the public while denying preference to members, and otherwise rendering TMC timeshares worthless and thus unsaleable.
To move forward, we require additional members to retain us, beyond the several dozen who have already done so. Therefore, we ask that our supporters assist us in communicating our message to other members. When we reach sufficient scale, we will then be able to cost-effectively utilize all of our capabilities, to overturn the status quo at TMC and obtain relief.
Simply defaulting on timeshare maintenance fee payments and hoping that you can walk away from your TMC interest without any adverse consequence is not a viable option. Despite online posts reporting that members have been contacted by TMC about being able to do just that, recent comments from Shawn Person, CEO of Bluegreen Vacations, Inc. which now manages TMC seems to indicate otherwise. Specifically, during an analyst earnings call on November 5, 2018, Mr. Pearson stated that Bluegreen was “tak[ing] a proactive stance towards” timeshare exit firms who claim
“that they can eliminate owner obligations and encourage delinquencies and owner defaults. Our new Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, Jorge de la Osa, who joined us in June with substantial industry experience, is already making progress, as is the entire timeshare industry who are also focused on the issue. Multiple third-party timeshare exit firms have now filed termination of representation notices relating to more than 205 vacation club owner contracts. In addition, it was recently announced that the founder of one of the higher volume law firms involved in these activities was disbarred by the Supreme Court of Tennessee, and another of the firms declared bankruptcy”
Bluegreen indicates that it is “encouraged with the results of our strategy to date and intend to continue fighting” efforts by or on behalf of members to avoid paying maintenance fees “by aggressively addressing this industry-wide problem.” Similarly, during this same call, Bluegreen’s SVP Mr. Anthony Puleo stated that “while it is still early we believe, our more aggressive stance and other default initiatives show promise.”
Therefore, defaulting on timeshare maintenance fee payments is not the answer. We are not asking our clients to pay us to simply get them out of their contract. We are not an “exit firm”. Rather, we are seeking to recover damages, as well as equity value, and impose penalties on those who have wrongfully profited from TMC members. In the end, liquidation of our clients’ timeshare interest is clearly a goal, but we believe our clients should be paid. BlueGreen’s public statements about its aggressive stance towards defaulting members are a challenge we intend to meet.
As an incentive to increase the number of members who retain us, we are in discussions with a litigation funding firm to provide us with an alternative to the retainer terms we have offered to date. While this non-recourse funding could mitigate any up-front fees, doing so would require that members relinquish a portion of any recovery to the funding company larger than the 30% we have sought.
Please contact us if you would like further details, or wish to join the suit. Thank you.
Jean-Marc Zimmerman Zimmerman Law Group 233 Watchung Fork Westfield, NJ 07090 T: (908) 768-6408 F: (908) 935-0751 E: jmz@tmcsuit.com
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