SAN DIEGO (AP) – A federal judge said Friday that he is inclined to deny a request by Donald Trump’s lawyers to dismiss a lawsuit that accuses the Republican presidential nominee of defrauding customers at the now-defunct Trump University.
U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel did not elaborate on his thinking during a lengthy hearing in San Diego – one day after Trump accepted the Republican nomination for president of the United States.
Trump’s attorney, Daniel Petrocelli, urged the judge to reconsider, calling the lawsuit a “gross overreach” of federal civil racketeering statutes. He told the judge the plaintiffs have failed to show that Trump himself orchestrated allegedly misleading marketing claims.
“He did not run Trump University. He was not the chief operating officer. He did not direct the day-to-day affairs,” Petrocelli said. “The idea that he is somehow at the center of it is not supported by the evidence in the case.”
Curiel, a target of the nominee’s repeated public scorn, will issue a final decision in writing at a later time.