REAL ESTATE

TRUMP WINS LAWSUIT AGAINST GOLF COURSE BUILDER

Donald Trump became a few million dollars richer yesterday when he won a lawsuit against a construction company that he accused of overcharging him for work at a golf course.

“If you get caught with your hand in Mr. Trump’s cookie jar, you’re going to get slapped and slapped hard,” Mr. Trump’s attorney, Y. David Scharf, said.

Mr. Trump had sued Columbus Construction of Mount Vernon, claiming it had billed him for $1.5 million more than he owed for excavation work during the construction of Trump National Golf Club and homes in Briarcliff Manor.

Mr. Trump testified in Westchester County Court last spring, saying, “They submitted bills, and we paid them. Then we checked the engineering reports and found out that we had paid them far more than we owed them.”

He claimed damages from Columbus’s leaving the job site, failing to complete the work, and causing losses in golf course revenues and residential sales.

– Associated Press

IN BRIEF

Cablevision posted a narrower third-quarter loss as sales rose 11% … A group of New York Stock Exchange members asked a state judge to delay a vote on the Big Board’s proposed purchase of Archipelago Holdings, according to court documents, and the NYSE said that members’ efforts to block a vote on the deal are “wrong” and “an affront to shareholder democracy” …The New York Mercantile Exchange will offer electronic trading of Brent crude oil as an alternative to live transactions on the floor of its new London exchange, where business has fizzled … Freddie Mac, struggling for two years to fix its accounting, said first-half profit is $220 million less than previously reported because of mistakes in calculating interest on mortgage securities … Drugmakers including Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline set aside about $80 million to block a California proposal requiring them to offer discounts to lower-income residents … The Bank of New York admitted it failed to report $7 billion in suspicious transactions from Russia and agreed to pay $38 million to settle two criminal investigations involving fraud and money laundering … Linens ‘n Things, the second-largest American home furnishings retailer, agreed to a $1.3 billion buyout by a group led by Apollo Management after struggling to compete with Bed Bath & Beyond.

– Bloomberg News and Dow Jones Newswires