The Trump business venture operating the Trump International Hotel in the historic Old Post Office Building on Pennsylvania Avenue filed suits last year. | AP Photo 'Impasse' declared in Trump restaurant suit, moving it closer to trial

Talks aimed at settling President-elect Donald Trump's lawsuit against celebrity chef Geoffrey Zakarian over abandoned plans for a restaurant at Trump's new Washington hotel have stalled, a lawyer for Trump's business empire said Tuesday as she asked a judge to set a date for a trial in the case.

"We're at an impasse," attorney Rebecca Woods told D.C. Superior Court Judge Brian Holeman during an afternoon hearing that stretched to nearly an hour. "We [were] in a mediation that began in February 2016. It didn't succeed."


The two sides held further talks and "the door remains open" for additional discussions, Woods said, while advising the court that preparing for trial in the case was the logical next step.

If the two sides cannot reach a settlement, a trial could take place sometime this summer or fall.

The Trump business venture operating the Trump International Hotel in the historic Old Post Office Building on Pennsylvania Avenue filed suits last year against firms connected with Zakarian and another chef, Jose Andres, after the two men backed out of plans to open eateries at the new hotel.

Zakarian and Andres said they scuttled the projects because Trump's caustic campaign rhetoric against immigrants from Mexico and other places destroyed the viability of the restaurants by undercutting the supply of potential customers and employees. The Trump side says it's owed damages because the leases for the restaurants are binding, while the restaurateurs contend Trump effectively breached the deals by making the inflammatory comments, including by blasting Mexican immigrants as "rapists."

Trump is scheduled to give a deposition later this week in the lawsuit over the planned Andres restaurant, sources involved in the litigation said. Lawyers for the president-elect sought to have the session canceled or curtailed because of his transition-related obligations, but a judge ruled last month that Andres' side is entitled to take Trump's testimony for up to the seven hours permitted under court rules.

The president-elect's testimony is expected to take place behind closed doors at Trump Tower in New York, but the two sides have not publicly confirmed precisely when Trump will testify.

During the Tuesday hearing, an attorney for Zakarian's businesses, Deborah Baum, said she agreed with Woods' description of the impasse in negotiations.

Holeman did not set a trial date in the Zakarian suit Tuesday, but did set a pre-trial conference for May 17. A trial, if it happens, would likely begin a few months after that.

Trump was deposed in the Zakarian case last June and would not be required to attend the trial, although there's a chance he could be called as a witness.

Trump's side is seeking about $14 million in damages over the abandoned Zakarian restaurant, according to a recent expert report

filed in the case. The hotel converted that space to a ballroom, while the Andres space was eventually used for a BLT Prime steakhouse.

In accordance with lease terms, both suits are expected to be heard by judges, not juries, if the cases go to trial. Baum said Tuesday that if Holeman rules that Zakarian did breach the lease, there will still be a major fight over how much money Trump's side is entitled to and whether it fulfilled its legal obligation to try to replace Zakarian's restaurant after he backed out.

"If liability is decided against my clients, there will be a very serious question regarding mitigation efforts," Baum told the judge.

During Tuesday's hearing, Holeman publicly questioned whether experts both sides have retained to address the damages question are using sufficiently scientific methodology to come up with their estimates. "Looking at this material, I became concerned," the judge said.

In October, the D.C. Courts adopted a stricter standard for expert testimony, in line with federal courts. Lawyers for both sides in the Trump-Zakarian case said they believed their experts could meet that standard, but the judge seemed skeptical. It's unclear what he will do if he decides the expert opinions are too speculative to be admitted.

There are also questions about how and if the experts' assessment of damages could be affected by Trump's unexpected win in the presidential race, which may have boosted the business prospects for his new D.C. hotel. It's also unclear how the litigation could be affected by Trump's plans to distance himself as president from his business empire or by provisions in the federal lease for the hotel project that appear to bar a federal official from benefiting from the deal.