Important Information for Royal Oasis Timeshare Owners

In yesterday’s Timeshare Owners Blog, I asked for information from anyone who had real facts about the situation at Royal Oasis timeshare resort in the Bahamas. Sell My Timeshare NOW received the following letter, directed to my attention.

Thank you, Mr. Phillips. I hope you will continue to keep us updated on the situation of timeshare owners at Royal Oasis, and I will share your insights with our timeshare blog readers

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Mr. Tremblay:

I read with interest your article about the sale of the Royal Oasis resort on your blog, and I also read the linked article in the Dublin newspaper. Please be aware that my law office and a law office in Florida filed a class action in Florida federal district court in June of 2006 on behalf of timeshare owners against the defaulting owner (Driftwood) of the resort and against WHI, the prior purported buyer of the resort. Neither entity bothered to respond to the lawsuit.

We are proceeding in federal court to certify the case as a class action. For some time, we have also been trying to negotiate a settlement with Lehman Brothers and Harcourt on behalf of timeshare owners (neither entity was named in the lawsuit). Harcourt has failed to negotiate despite our repeated requests and, instead, has chosen to contact timeshare owners directly via Rudy Meadows.

We are very concerned that Harcourt’s attempted end-run around the class action, and the fact that some timeshare owners are represented by legal counsel, will benefit Harcourt at the expense of the timeshare owners. A cursory reference in a newspaper article that the timeshare owners’ contracts will be honored has little meaning beyond its public relations value. How are these contracts to be honored? Satisfying the timeshare owners for what they lost is not the same for all. The various categories of owners demonstrates that a simple claim that the contracts will be honored is no panacea. For example, some timeshare owners continued to pay for months and years despite the resort being closed while others stopped paying immediately, some timeshare contracts have terminated with timeshare owners purchasing other timeshares, some timeshare owners may no longer want a timeshare at the resort, etc. Moreover, the form timeshare agreement believed to be widely used at the resort indicates that if a member is unable to use a unit as a result of damage to the unit for an insured peril, then the resort is required to either provide alternate accommodation or a pro-rata refund based on the number of weeks lost. So, the question remains — what does “honoring” the timeshare agreement mean?

There is no one quick fix that will make the class of timeshare owners whole. A detailed settlement has to be negotiated that protects the timeshare owners. Timeshare owners should be suspect of any blanket proposal by Harcourt which may require the timeshare owners to release their rights when signing any new deal.

Harcourt has repeatedly ignored our requests to negotiate which has us concerned for the timeshare owners.

Carlin J. Phillips
PHILLIPS & GARCIA, P.C.
13 Ventura Drive
N. Dartmouth, MA 02747
508-998-0800 x 112

Consumer Trial Lawyers