SAN DIEGO -- Donald Trump's attorney told a federal judge Thursday that he's open to settlement talks in a class-action fraud lawsuit involving the president-elect and his now-defunct Trump University.
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Attorney Daniel Petrocelli also asked during a hearing that the trial be delayed until early next year because Trump needs time to work on the transition to the presidency.
"The good news is that he was elected president. The bad news is that he has even more work to do now," Petrocelli told U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel.
The lawsuit alleging that Trump University failed on its promise to teach success in real estate is currently set to begin Nov. 28 in San Diego, before Curiel. Curiel, an Indiana-born jurist, was accused by Trump during the presidential campaign of being biased because of his Mexican heritage.
Both sides in the university case accepted Curiel's offer to work with U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller, who is based in San Diego, on a possible settlement.
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"I can tell you right now I'm all ears," Petrocelli told Curiel.
Patrick Coughlin, an attorney for the former students who sued, told reporters that previous attempts at a settlement had failed. "We've been miles apart," he said outside the courthouse.
Curiel didn't signal how he would rule on the request for a trial delay, but he encouraged efforts to settle. He has been reluctant to postpone the trial.
The judge said more than 100 potential jurors would be in court Nov. 28, and nine would be picked to begin hearing trial arguments no more than two days later. He expects both sides to finish presenting their cases around Dec. 14.
Petrocelli said it was unlikely that Trump would attend the trial, and Curiel said he didn't expect that he would.
Curiel said he was prepared to deny a request by Trump's attorneys to prohibit statements made by and about their client during Trump's campaign. The highly unusual petition would apply to Trump's tweets, a video of Trump making sexually predatory comments about women, his tax history, revelations about his private charitable foundation and public criticism of the judge.
Curiel noted that Trump's attorneys didn't specify what campaign-related evidence they wanted to exclude and that he would consider specific objections at the time of the trial.
The lawsuit filed in 2010 on behalf of former customers alleges that Trump University, which was not accredited as a school, gave seminars and classes across the country that were like infomercials, pressuring people to spend up to $35,000 for mentorships and, in the end, failing on its promise to teach success in real estate.
The claims mirror another class-action complaint in San Diego and a lawsuit in New York.
Petrocelli told reporters in May that Trump planned to attend most, if not all, of the trial and would testify.
At the May hearing, Petrocelli asked for a trial after Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, but the judge raised concerns about distractions if Trump won the election.
A Section on 11/11/2016