Donald Trump holds a media conference announcing the establishment of Trump University May 23, 2005, in New York City. | Getty Judge delays Trump University trial Heeding warnings of creating a media 'zoo,' a federal judge schedules the civil case to go before a jury after the election.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump appears to have escaped the possibility of an awkward federal class-action trial over his Trump University real estate program taking place just as his campaign for the White House shifts into high gear.

At a hearing in San Diego on Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel set the trial in the lawsuit to begin Nov. 28, with jury selection to begin a few weeks earlier, local press reports said.


Lawyers for plaintiffs claiming they were defrauded by the Trump University program had asked Curiel to set the trial in July or August.

Trump's attorneys said Trump plans to testify at the trial. An attorney for Trump asked Friday for a trial date in February or later, local reports said.

At a hearing in March, Trump lawyer Daniel Petrocelli said he expected "a zoo" if the case went to trial in August.

It's unclear precisely why Curiel scheduled the trial for November, but he has indicated a concern about allowing too long of a delay in the case — a portion of which involves special claims of elder fraud for those who were older than 65 and took part in the program. Some students paid as much as $35,000 for mentorship in real-estate investing.

Two lawsuits pending in federal court in San Diego and one in state court in New York City allege that Trump University falsely claimed that the instructors were handpicked by Trump and had extensive experience in real-estate deals. Trump has acknowledged he didn't know many of the instructors and that at least one deceived Trump's team.

Trump has said he is eager for the cases to go to trial because the students received useful instruction and many made money off the advice. Some of the participants seeking damages also recorded videotaped statements praising the program, he has said.

Trump has also railed at Curiel as biased, citing the judge's Latino background. However, the mogul's attorneys have not raised any such concerns in court.

In a related development Friday, the judge delayed until just after the Republican convention in July a key hearing in the second federal class action lawsuit.

Curiel, an appointee of President Barack Obama, turned heads by announcing last month that the court would hold a hearing about the suit on the first day of the GOP convention, set to open July 18 in Cleveland. The court session was to involve arguments on motions by Trump's lawyers to essentially throw out the case.

Curiel announced Friday that he'll hold the hearing instead on July 22, the day after Trump is expected to accept the Republican Party's presidential nomination.

The federal case now set for trial in November involves only people who purchased Trump University programs in Florida, New York or California, which have strict false advertising laws. The case scheduled for a hearing in July involves Trump University participants in the rest of the country.