- Oct 17, 2011
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Donald Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, paid $82,500 last week to settle a lawsuit alleging that it had silenced a sexually harassed waitress by tricking her into an unfair hush money deal, according to the ex-employee’s lawyer.
Bianco [the waitress] feels betrayed by Habba, who was one of her Bedminster regulars until, her lawsuit says, Habba posed as a concerned friend giving legal advice about how to address alleged sexual harassment by a supervisor—only to abuse that relationship and “fraudulently inducing” her to “quickly agree to unconscionable and illegal terms.”
Bianco is now preparing to sue the club all over again, this time for sexual harassment. But she’s also targeting Habba with a potential fraud lawsuit too, according to Bianco’s New Jersey lawyer, Nancy Erika Smith.
The four-page settlement, which Bianco signed on March 4, reads like a total win for the angered ex-employee. [she keeps the hush money, and doesn't have to hush.]
But then comes this line out of nowhere: “The parties agree that Alina Habba is not a party to this release.”
Bianco’s lawyer said the line was included to make sure Habba isn’t off the hook.
“My client is certainly considering suing her for fraud,” Smith said last week, noting that she is already in communication with Habba’s attorney.
From the start of the case, Trump Bedminster immediately distanced itself from Habba. Defense lawyer Jennifer L. Ward cast the lawsuit as a series of “attempts to hold the club accountable for Ms. Habba’s representations.”
“Ms. Habba was merely ‘a member of the club,’” Ward wrote.
She wasn't even the coffee girl! But somehow she knew the details of the settlement Bedminster was offering the waitress. And a month later, she was suddenly Trump's lead attorney in the Summer Zervos case.
Bianco [the waitress] feels betrayed by Habba, who was one of her Bedminster regulars until, her lawsuit says, Habba posed as a concerned friend giving legal advice about how to address alleged sexual harassment by a supervisor—only to abuse that relationship and “fraudulently inducing” her to “quickly agree to unconscionable and illegal terms.”
Bianco is now preparing to sue the club all over again, this time for sexual harassment. But she’s also targeting Habba with a potential fraud lawsuit too, according to Bianco’s New Jersey lawyer, Nancy Erika Smith.
The four-page settlement, which Bianco signed on March 4, reads like a total win for the angered ex-employee. [she keeps the hush money, and doesn't have to hush.]
But then comes this line out of nowhere: “The parties agree that Alina Habba is not a party to this release.”
Bianco’s lawyer said the line was included to make sure Habba isn’t off the hook.
“My client is certainly considering suing her for fraud,” Smith said last week, noting that she is already in communication with Habba’s attorney.
From the start of the case, Trump Bedminster immediately distanced itself from Habba. Defense lawyer Jennifer L. Ward cast the lawsuit as a series of “attempts to hold the club accountable for Ms. Habba’s representations.”
“Ms. Habba was merely ‘a member of the club,’” Ward wrote.
She wasn't even the coffee girl! But somehow she knew the details of the settlement Bedminster was offering the waitress. And a month later, she was suddenly Trump's lead attorney in the Summer Zervos case.
