Dismissal Challenges Definition of Condo Hotels

The Daily Journal reported on March 30, 2011, that a federal judge dismissed a securities class action brought by investors in San Diego’s Hard Rock Hotel. In his ruling, the judge said that condominium hotels are not securities as defined and regulated by the SEC, but rather real estate investments. “There is some confusion in the law that plaintiffs were trying to take advantage of,” said Frederick “Rick” Kranz, a Orange County litigation partner with Cox Castle & Nicholson, who represented the defendants. “The judge would have none of it.”