A Florida Court of Appeals decision went against one of President Donald Trump‘s businesses earlier this week, upholding a decision ordering them to pay more than $300,000 to a paint supply company that was working on renovations of the Trump National Doral Miami golf resort. Trump Endeavor 12 LLC, the President’s business, argued that they shouldn’t have to pay due to a technicality, but the court wasn’t buying it.
The Paint Spot had gone after Trump’s business after not receiving $32,535.87 for paint and supplies they had provided through a subcontractor that was working on renovating part of the Doral. It turned out that the subcontractor had left the job due to not being paid, at which point The Paint Spot had already provided resources for the job, which Trump’s company then continued to use without paying for them. The Paint Spot then tried to foreclose on a property lien due to non-payment, but Trump Endeavor 12 claimed it shouldn’t be allowed because they didn’t receive proper notice. As it turns out, when The Paint Spot turned in their required Notice to Owner when they were signing on for the job with the subcontractor, they filled in the name of the wrong main contractor because Trump’s own representative gave them the wrong information.
In the end, the court ruled that it didn’t matter because the notice still went to the same address, it was Trump’s company’s own fault that the wrong contractor was listed, and there was enough evidence that both Trump’s business and the main contractor were aware of The Paint Spot’s work on the project. In fact, during the trial, it was revealed that the failure to pay for the supplies had nothing to do with the notice. The main contractor’s manager admitted:
[T]he decision not to pay [Paint Spot] had nothing to do with a defective Notice to Owner . . . . They weren’t paid because Mr. Trump had already paid [the subcontractor] a decent amount of money of the contract . . . and there was still a lot of work that needed to be completed[.]
So really, Trump already paid some money, so it was determined to just not pay the rest of it.
Now, however, the $32,535.87 that Trump’s business tried to avoid paying is nothing compared to the attorney’s fees the court is making them pay. The court ordered them to fork over $282,949 for the The Paint Shop’s legal fees, making it a grand total of $315,484.87.
Trump can still file an appeal of this decision with the Florida Supreme Court.
[Image via CNN screengrab]
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