Fort Lauderdale, FL – February 11, 2020 – Greenspoon Marder secured a definitive victory on behalf of client Westgate Resorts in a long-running legal battle against Mitchell Reed Sussman, a California timeshare exit lawyer.
On August 9, 2017, Westgate filed a lawsuit against Mr. Sussman in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Orlandao Division, seeking a permanent injunction prohibiting Mr. Sussman’s actions in violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. The Court entered a preliminary injunction on February 19, 2019, prohibiting Mr. Sussman’s business practices, which the Court later found in a May 31, 2019 order to be deceptive, unfair, and fraudulent, and intentionally interfered with owners’ contractual obligations to Westgate.
On November 18, 2019, prior to trial, Westgate entered into a settlement with Mr. Sussman prohibiting Mr. Sussman from representing Westgate timeshare owners in the future or from referencing Westgate in any marketing material. As to Westgate timeshare owners, Mr. Sussman is now out of the timeshare exit business.
The Greenspoon Marder team representing Westgate was led by partners Richard Epstein, Jeffrey Backman and senior counsel Eliot New.