Hard Rock Hotel Will Pay $51M to Settle Condo-Hotel Sales Class Action

A California federal judge has preliminarily approved a $51 million class action settlement involving allegations the developers behind a Hard Rock Café International USA venture in San Diego, Calif., violated federal land sale regulations.

The Hard Rock class action lawsuit was filed in 2011 by plaintiffs Laurie and Dean Beaver, who purchased condo-hotel units at the Hard Rock San Diego, a 12-story building with 420 condo-hotel units. The condominium hotel building is located in downtown San Diego near the San Diego Convention Center, the San Diego Marina and Seaport Village.

The Beavers allege the developers of the Hard Rock San Diego violated California law by failing to inform them that they had a two-year window in which they could rescind their purchases.

The majority of the plaintiffs’ claims were ultimately dismissed from the Hard Rock class action lawsuit, but their claim based on the U.S. Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act remains.

Class Members of the proposed Hard Rock condo-hotel settlement include all individuals and businesses that agreed to purchase condominium-hotel units at the Hard Rock Hotel & Condominiums in San Diego between May 2006 and December 2007, and who ultimately closed escrow on the units.

U.S. District Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel preliminarily approved the Hard Rock class action settlement on May 24. He noted that the class action lawsuit had been ongoing for more than five years, continuing after two failed court-assisted settlement conferences and a failed mediation.

“The Court finds the Settlement was entered into in good faith, is free of collusion, and is within the range of possible judicial approval,” Judge Curiel wrote in the order preliminarily approving the Hard Rock San Diego class action settlement.

The proposed Hard Rock settlement would provide eligible Class Members with payments averaging $95,000. Defendant Tarsadia Hotels would contribute $10 million and defendant Greenberg Traurig LLP would contribute $41.15 million to settle the Hard Rock San Diego class action lawsuit.

Greenberg Traurig allegedly drafted disclosure documents for the Hard Rock condo-hotel project that failed to comply with federal law.

The final fairness hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 15, 2017.

Top Class Actions will post updates to this class action settlement as they become available. For the latest updates, keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter. You can also receive notifications when this article is updated by using your free Top Class Actions account and clicking the green “Follow Article” button at the top of the post.

The Beavers are represented by Michael L. Schrag of Gibbs Law Group, Michael J. Reiser of Reiser Law PC, Donald E. Chomiak of Talisman Law PC, Tyler R. Meade of The Meade Firm PC and Wendy C. Fostvedt of Fostvedt Legal Group LLC.

The Hard Rock San Diego Land Sale Class Action Lawsuit is Dean Beaver and Laurie Beaver, et al. v. Tarsadia Hotels, et al., Case No. 3:11-cv-01842, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.