District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel was publicly attacked as a "hater" by Donald Trump in May. | Getty Reports: Judge unlikely to throw out Trump University racketeering lawsuit Nationwide class-action fraud suit over real estate seminar program on track for trial

A federal judge indicated Friday that he's unlikely to agree to a request from lawyers for Donald Trump to throw out a class-action racketeering lawsuit filed against his Trump University real estate seminar program, news reports said.

U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel held a hearing Friday afternoon in San Diego on a motion from Trump's legal team to dismiss the suit on grounds that the real estate mogul turned Republican presidential nominee was not sufficiently personally involved in alleged fraud committed in promoting the seminars.


Trump's lawyers have also argued that the alleged fraud falls short of the kind of outrageous conduct to which the federal Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law was intended to apply.

In May, Trump publicly attacked Curiel as a "hater" and repeatedly argued publicly that the judge's Latino heritage had left him irretrievably biased against Trump because of his call for a crackdown on illegal immigration from Mexico.

The judge did not issue a formal ruling on the motion for summary judgment brought by Trump in the nationwide RICO suit, but KNSD-TV, KSWB-TV and Bloomberg News reported that he indicated he was inclined to deny the motion.

That would leave that case on track to go to trial. However, trial in that case is expected to follow a trial Curiel has already scheduled to begin Nov. 28 in a parallel class-action lawsuit brought on behalf Trump University students in California, New York and Florida. That suit argues that students in those states are entitled to damages under state consumer protection laws.

Students paid fees ranging from about $1500 for a 3-day seminar to $35,000 for an extended mentorship. The suits allege that Trump University marketing materials falsely claimed that instructors were hand-picked by Trump and that they would teach Trump's "secrets" for investing. The suits also claim that the Trump University name implied the organization was an accredited university.

Trump has said that most students were satisfied with the program. His lawyers have argued that the meaning of terms like "secrets" is ambiguous and that any exaggeration amounted to "puffery" that falls short of the legal standard for fraud.

Curiel is still considering whether to clear the way for the release of videos of two depositions Trump gave in connection with the lawsuits. At a hearing last week, a media lawyer argued that the videos should be made public because of public interest in the litigation and Trump's presidential bid. Trump's lawyer argued that the videos should be kept under seal to avoid prejudicing jurors and to avoid having the videos taken out of context in news reports and political ads.