Court hands Donald Trump another defeat

ALBANY -- State Parks 2, Donald Trump 0.

For the second time in four months, New York's highest court ruled against the developer in one of his lawsuits targeting the state Parks Department over the long-stalled restaurant-catering hall at Jones Beach State Park.

The Court of Appeals declined Thursday to hear Trump's request for an injunction that would have prevented the Parks Department from collecting rent even though construction on the Trump on the Ocean development hasn't begun.

But the court's action was limited only to Trump's request for an injunction; the developer's lawsuit seeking to bar the state from collecting rent and to block it from terminating Trump's lease is still proceeding, said Court of Appeals spokesman Gary Spencer.

It's the second high court decision in the Parks Department's favor and against Trump this year.

In June, the Court of Appeals dismissed Trump's $500 million claim for damages from project delays. Trump had claimed the Parks Department acted in bad faith when it denied his bid to build a basement at the proposed facility. The state argued that the 27,000-square-foot basement didn't comply with building and fire codes for a coastal floodplain.

Trump has a third lawsuit that claims the state improperly forced him to seek a zoning variance for the basement. That case could be heard by the Court of Appeals early next year, Spencer said.

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"It's strike two, and strike three will be coming soon," Ronald J. Rosenberg, a Garden City attorney who has fought the project, said of Thursday's ruling. "It's a victory for all New Yorkers because [the decision] upholds the fact that the court doesn't have the power to rewrite the agreement that was entered into by the state and by the Trump organization."

"That's simply not what the court did," countered Steven Schlesinger, Trump's attorney. "This was purely procedural. It just says you have to wait till you decide the whole of the case."

State Parks officials didn't immediately comment.