Trump University lawsuit pre-trial hearing to proceed on May 6

By Staff Writer | Apr 21, 2016 12:43 PM EDT

The class-action lawsuit filed against Trump University has been scheduled for a pretrial hearing on Friday, May 6. Former Trump University students filed a case to unseal documents.

The plaintiffs claimed that Trump University pitched them expensive real estate course work, sometimes amounting to tens of thousands of dollars, for real estate seminars where students learned only a little. Trump allegedly denied the claims and said students overwhelmingly approved of the school, Heavy has reported.

In a separate filing in Wednesday, federal District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel took the expected step of dismissing former student Tarla Makaeff from her role as lead plaintiff of the class lawsuit. Makaeff wanted to step down on the role with Sonny Low to replace him. Makaeff stated that she never anticipated that the case would be of high-profile focal point in a presidential campaign, and that she would become a public target for Donald Trump.

Makaeff's request to withdraw is not welcome for Trump's lawyers who say that she is a key witness in their defense and it relies on them to debunk her claims. Trump's lawyers stood with conviction that the former student should be required to finish what she started. Two plaintiffs already withdrew last year making Makaeff the third person, Politico has learned.

Earlier this month, the class-action lawsuit asked the San Diego District Court to unseal hundreds of pages of documents in the case against GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump. The newspaper argued that the lawsuit filed by former Trump University students has become a campaign issue and the documents should be available to the public, News Max has cited.

The Trump University lawsuit focuses on allegedly deceptive commercial practices by a leading presidential candidate whose claim to be qualified for the presidency hinges on his business record. The plaintiffs' allegiatons in this case and the lawsuit itself has become a prominent campaign issue against the Republican frontrunner, which gives the need for transparency paramount in the case.

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