Wyndham’s Star Witness

Timeshare developer Wyndham Resorts has a new star witness in its lawsuit against consumer lawyer Mitchell Sussman.

On August 13, 2021, Brandon Reed testified in favor of a timeshare developer, and against a consumer lawyer.

Brandon Reed is the founder and chief executive officer of Reed Hein & Associates, a.k.a. “Timeshare Exit Team.”

Mitchell Sussman is the consumer lawyer who is responsible for delivering almost six thousand of the “timeshare exits” that Timeshare Exit Team claims to have delivered to consumers.

Brandon Reed thanked Sussman for his efforts by throwing him under the bus.

Wyndham’s Lawsuit

In December 2018, Wyndham Resorts filed a lawsuit against Timeshare Exit Team, its two owners Brandon Reed and Trevor Hein, its former chief operating officer Thomas Parenteau, and its advertising agency Happy Hour Media Group.

Wyndham alleged that Timeshare Exit Team committed tortious interference with contracts by instructing customers to break their agreements with Wyndham.

Wyndham sued (1) Timeshare Exit Team, (2) its owner Brandon Reed, (3) its owner Trevor Hein, (4) former chief operating officer Thomas Parenteau, and (5) Brandon Reed’s advertising agency: Happy Hour Media Group.

Wyndham also sued three consumer law firms to which Timeshare Exit Team referred cases.

It is unusual for a lawyer to be sued for tortious interference with contracts. Lawyers are well within their rights to counsel their clients, and it is entirely proper for a lawyer to counsel a client about whether to continue making payments to a timeshare developer.

According to Wyndham, lawyers who work with Timeshare Exit Team forfeit their protections as lawyers because they work to accomplish the illegitimate purposes of Timeshare Exit Team, rather than the legitimate purposes of their own consumer-clients.

Wyndham also sued (6) Mitchell Sussman, (7) SGB Law, and (8) Ken Privett. These consumer lawyers were sued for one reason — they accepted client referrals from Timeshare Exit Team.

Timeshare Exit Team Surrenders . . . Again

On June 24, 2021 — after two and one-half years of litigation that cost millions of dollars — Timeshare Exit Team surrendered.

Again.

Just like January 2020’s surrender to major timeshare developer Orange Lake Country Club, Timeshare Exit Team’s surrender to Wyndham Resorts involved a confidential settlement agreement.

As part of the agreement, Timeshare Exit Team agreed to a permanent public injunction. Brandon Reed and Timeshare Exit Team agreed to never again provide “timeshare-exit services” to any Wyndham customer.

Ken Privett had settled more than a year earlier earlier — in March 2020. Like Timeshare Exit Team, Privett agreed to never again represent a client against Wyndham.

SGB Law settled in November 2020.

It is true that Privett and SGB Law settled with Wyndham. Neither, though, has been shameless enough to testify in favor of Wyndham and against former co-defendant Mitchell Sussman.

That distinction is reserved for Brandon Reed and Timeshare Exit Team.

In June 2021, Brandon Reed surrendered in his fight against Wyndham Resorts.

Mitchell Sussman Continues to Fight

Today, the only defendant remaining in the case is consumer lawyer Mitchell Sussman.

Sussman seems ready to fight.

Only days after Reed Hein waived the white flag of surrender, Sussman filed a motion for summary judgment. Sussman argued that Wyndham had named him as a defendant only because of his relationship with Reed Hein. Now that Wyndham had settled with Reed Hein, Sussman argued, the Court should dismiss Wyndham’s case against him.

In support of his motion, Sussman submitted exhibits demonstrating that he has helped hundreds of consumers terminate their financial obligations to Wyndham. In fact, Sussman’s exhibits demonstrate that he successfully secured “timeshare exits” for owners of Wyndham timeshares who were referred to him by Timeshare Exit Team.

Mitchell Sussman undermined his law firm’s success against timeshare developers by accepting client referrals from Timeshare Exit Team.

Sussman’s 5,571 “Exits”

For years, Mitchell Sussman had regular success against timeshare developers.

Sussman’s methods were crude: He sent boilerplate letters to major timeshare developers, announcing that his clients had resigned their membership. Sussman’s letters typically stated that his clients would be willing to sign an agreement returning their timeshares to the developers, in exchange for a release of claims.

If a developer sent him anything other than a notice of foreclosure, he tossed it into the garbage because he considered correspondence from a timeshare developer to be trash. When a timeshare developer sent a notice of foreclosure, Sussman sent the client a letter. The letter notified the client that his or her financial obligations to the timeshare developer had terminated.

However crude, Sussman’s methods were effective. For years, Mitchell Sussman regularly terminated flows of money from middle-class and working-class families to major timeshare developers. Then, Sussman met Brandon Reed and Timeshare Exit Team.

Sussman began to accept referrals from Timeshare Exit Team in approximately 2013. By the time that Sussman stopped accepting referrals in 2016, he had received more than eight thousand customer files from Timeshare Exit Team.

According to Timeshare Exit Team’s own internal records, Sussman secured 5,771 “timeshare exits” for customers. None of the other consumer law firms employed by Reed Hein had similar success.

Brandon Reed Thanks Sussman

How did Timeshare Exit Team founder and chief executive officer Brandon Reed thank Sussman for his efforts?

By testifying against him, and in favor of Wyndham Resorts. Even worse, Sussman was named as a defendant in the first place only because he accepted referrals from Timeshare Exit Team.