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The dispute centers on whether Donald Trump defrauded students who paid for his real estate seminars. | AP Photo Trump University plaintiffs push for a summer trial

The plaintiffs in a years-long legal battle against Trump University are making a play for a trial date that could put Donald Trump on the witness stand around the time of the Republican National Convention.

In a new court filing, they asked the judge to hold a trial this summer on parts of the class-action case against Trump University that could be tried without a jury. Last week, lawyers from both sides acknowledged that arguing the case before a jury this summer — when the polarizing GOP front-runner will surely be in the spotlight — would be extremely difficult. But Rachel Jensen of San Diego, who represents the plaintiffs, argued that there should be at least a partial trial this summer.

Two of three claims now pending against Trump could be reviewed by U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel at that time, Jensen wrote. The 2010 case has dragged on too long, she said, to the point where one plaintiff is so old that "time is of the essence" when it comes to settling the dispute over whether Trump defrauded students who paid for his real estate seminars.

To keep putting off the trial while former students are trying to pay off thousands of dollars in credit card debt stemming from Trump University would "be as prejudicial as a loss," Jensen said in the filing.

Trump's lawyers made the opposite case during a hearing last week: The class-action fraud case against Trump University "will be a zoo if it goes to trial" in August, Trump's lawyer Daniel Petrocelli said. And he accused the plaintiffs' lawyers of dumping the filing on the eve of a presidential debate in order to fan media attention.

To that claim, the plaintiffs' lawyers threw Trump's words back at him.

"Trump recently testified that he is 'dying to go to court on this case,' so defendants should be amenable," the plaintiff's lawyers wrote.

Excerpts from a sworn deposition also filed Thursday show Trump at times baiting the lawyers questioning him by telling them he's eager for his day in court and saying he's "been waiting for it for a long time."

Curiel has another key decision to make soon on Trump University as well: Whether to let one of the lead plaintiffs, Tarla Makaeff, exit the case. That decision is expected this week.

Josh Gerstein contributed to this report.