Westgate Resorts
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| Trading name | Westgate Resorts |
|---|---|
| Type | Private |
| Industry | Real estate |
| Founder(s) | David A. Siegel |
| Headquarters | Orlando, United States |
| Key people |
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| Website | westgateresorts.com |
Westgate Resorts is a Florida based timeshare resort firm founded by David A. Siegel.
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Lawsuits [edit]
Westgate Resorts Sued by General Contractor for failure to pay its bills [edit]
Westgate Resorts was sued in a federal court in Las Vegas for failure to pay bills relating to the pH Towers, formerly owned by Wesgate Resorts. On February 27, 2013 Clark County District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez ordered Westgate Resorts to pay the plaintiff, Tutor-Saliba Corp., $9 million in unpaid bills.[1]
[edit]
Westgate Resorts was sued by 300 former sales employees in 2010 for unpaid sales commissions. They won the lawsuit and Westgate Resorts were ordered to pay $600,000. Despite paying $50,000 initially, Westgate stopped payment and the matter went back to the courts for another three years. The matter was finally settled under Judge Michael Baxley, and Westgate agreed to pay $500,000, $100,000 less than the original judgement required.[2][3]
United States of America versus Westgate Resorts Ltd [edit]
On January 20, 2009 Westgate Resorts Ltd. was found guilty and had to settle with the US Government for its violations of the Telemarketing Sales Rule (“Rule”), 16 C.F.R. Part 310, including the National Do Not Call Registry provisions. As part of its settlement with the US Government, it had to pay a $900,000 fine.[4]
Lawsuit brought by Dawn Myers for battery [edit]
In 2008 Central Florida Investments and David Siegel were found liable for battery in a lawsuit brought by former Westgate employee Dawn Myers. After a trial in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, the jury awarded $5,378,863.14 but the judge reduced the award to $610,469.84: $103,622.09 in compensatory damages and $506,847.75 in punitive damages. This award arose from Myers's claim of battery under state law, but her claims of sexual harassment were found to be time-barred.[5] In January 2010, The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit dismissed an appeal and cross-appeal, affirming the district court's verdict.[5][6]
The Queen of Versailles [edit]
In 2012, filmmaker Lauren Greenfield released a documentary entitled The Queen of Versailles, based on a series of interviews with Siegel, his wife Jackie Siegel, and their attempt to build a 90,000 square foot mansion modeled after the famous French original. In the film, David Siegel is shown struggling (and ultimately failing) to secure funding for Westgate's Las Vegas high-rise resort, the Ph Towers Westgate. Siegel's son and senior Westgate executive, Richard, is quoted as saying that David Siegel's determination not to lose the Ph Tower was a major source of the company's financial troubles in 2009-11. On November 22, 2011, a controlling interest in the property was sold to Resort Finance America LLC.[7]
Politics [edit]
CEO David Siegel, a Republican, sent an email in the fall of 2012 to all of his employees suggesting that he might "reduce the size of this company" if Obama were to win the 2012 presidential election.[8] The email was widely interpreted by the media as a threat to the employees about possible layoffs if Barack Obama were to be re-elected.[9]
Siegel admitted in the documentary The Queen of Versailles to possibly illegal activities in Florida during the 2000 United States elections, which he claims were singularly responsible for getting George W. Bush into the White House.:[10]
Interviewer "How were you personally responsible for the re-election of George Bush?" Seigel: "I'd rather not say because it may not necessarily have been legal." (9 minutes 20 seconds into the documentary).
Seigel later added:
"Whenever I saw a negative article about [Al] Gore, I put it in with the paychecks of my 8,000 employees. I had my managers do a survey on every employee. If they liked Bush, we made them register to vote. But not if they liked Gore. The week before [the election] we made 80,000 phone calls through my call center—they were robo-calls. On Election Day, we made sure everyone who was voting for Bush got to the polls. I didn’t know he would win by 527 votes. Afterward, we did a survey among the employees to find out who voted who wouldn’t have otherwise. One thousand of them said so."[11][12]
References [edit]
- ^ "General contractor comes out ahead in timeshare dispute". Las Vegas Review Journal.
- ^ "300 former Myrtle Beach employees sue 'Timeshare King". WMBF News. Jan 2013.
- ^ "Westgate Resorts owner David Siegel proposes settlement in Myrtle Beach timeshare lawsuit". Global Financial Network.
- ^ [1] | Westgate pays fine to US Government for violating Telemarketing Sales Rules and Do Not Call provisions
- ^ a b "Dawn Georgette Myers v. Central Florida Investments, Inc., David Siegel, et al.". United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. 2010-01-06. Retrieved 2013-02-05.
- ^ "Mr. Big". Orlando Magazine. June 2009. Retrieved 2013-02-05.
- ^ Ph Towers has new owner
- ^ "Full letter: Westgate CEO David Siegel to employees". WESH Orlando. 9 October 2012. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
- ^ MCT (October 10, 2012). "'Queen of Versailles' David Siegel: Mitt Romney crucial to saving employees' jobs". Newsday. Retrieved October 11, 2012.
- ^ Goldberg, Adam. "David Siegel, Florida Real Estate Mogul, Claims To Be 'Personally Responsible' For George W. Bush's 2000 Victory". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
- ^ Berfield, Susan. "Why Time-Share King David Siegel Thinks He Got Bush Elected". Business Weed. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
- ^ Nolan, Hamilton (9 October 2012). "The CEO Who Built Himself America's Largest House Just Threatened to Fire His Employees if Obama's Elected". Gawker. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
