“The case was barreling toward trial, by all accounts.”
Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, said
that Judge Curiel would probably give the objection serious consideration, but that he would have to weigh it against “substantial pressure to hold the deal together.”
“A lot of work has gone into this, and people are generally satisfied all around,” Mr. Tobias said.
Lawyers for the student, Sherri Simpson of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Monday asked a federal judge in San Diego to reject the settlement
unless former students are given an opportunity to be excluded from the deal so they can sue Mr. Trump individually.
If the judge, Gonzalo Curiel, decides that Ms. Simpson and potentially others should have
that chance, legal experts say it could disrupt the settlement because Mr. Trump and his lawyers saw the deal as a way to resolve all of the claims, once and for all, to avoid a trial and distractions to his presidency.
In 2010, Ms. Simpson — a lawyer who spoke out about her Trump University experience during last year’s campaign — paid $1,495 for a three-day seminar, in which she said instructors pressured her to sign up for the $35,000 “Gold Elite” program under the premise
that she would have access to the “resources of Mr. Trump and his real estate organization,” she wrote in a sworn statement.
“If even one person could opt out of the settlement and force a trial,
that might, in fact, crater the deal,” said Shaun Martin, a professor at the University of San Diego School of Law.
