LOS ANGELES : School District Ordered to Pay Trump $3 Million

The Los Angeles Unified School District has been ordered to reimburse millionaire developer Donald Trump’s company, Ambassador Associates, more than $3 million in legal fees it incurred while the district was negotiating to buy the closed Ambassador Hotel.

Because the district ultimately abandoned its plan to buy the Mid-Wilshire property, tear down the hotel and build a high school on the land, it was legally liable for Ambassador Associates’ legal costs. But the amount of money involved was in dispute.

In the ruling released last week, Judge Barnet M. Cooperman granted the company--formerly known as Trump Wilshire Associates--more than four times the amount the district had offered to pay.

The award of legal fees has no bearing on the $100-million suit Ambassador Associates filed against the school district last April, which is not expected to go to trial until later this year.

That suit maintains that by tying up the hotel property in eminent domain proceedings for three years, the district prevented the developers from building a skyscraper there. By the time district officials decided they no longer wanted the land, the developers said the economic climate had worsened and their project was no longer viable.