SOUTH JERSEY

AC firm says Trump signs were to be destroyed

Jim Walsh
@jimwalsh_cp

ATLANTIC CITY - A company fighting over ownership of two “T-R-U-M-P” signs says it planned to destroy potentially valuable letters removed from an Atlantic City casino.

Trump Taj Mahal Associates (TTMA) contends the signs were acquired improperly by a Philadelphia artifacts dealer that hopes to sell them at auction for more than $100,000.

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The artifacts firm — Recycling of Urban Materials for Profit, or RUMP — says the iconic letters have value as presidential or casino collectibles, and their worth is further increased by the connection to President Donald Trump, who opened the Taj Mahal in 1990.

The casino owner has targeted RUMP in a lawsuit that was moved Thursday to federal court, Camden. The suit initially was filed March 3 in state court in Atlantic County.

RUMP brought its own suit against TTMA last month, after the Atlantic City firm intervened to stop a potentially lucrative auction. RUMP said it offered one set of letters on eBay, with bids reaching $7,500 "within days."

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Both companies are seeking court orders to determine the signs’ rightful owner.

TTMA also wants a judge to bar the sale of the signs and a receiver to take custody of the letters until the dispute is resolved. It also seeks unspecified damages and attorneys' fees.

Serge Bycov, of Philadelphia, removes the Trump name from a sign at the entrance of the former Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City on Feb. 15

An attorney for TTMA, Tracey McDevitt Hagan of Pennsauken, declined to comment on the lawsuit.

According to the suit, TTMA owns the former Trump Taj Mahal Hotel & Casino, "in addition to all of the signage on that facility."

The Atlantic City firm says it hired a contractor, Palmieri Electric of Buena, Atlantic County, to disconnect the power and remove the Trump name from the gaming hall’s colonnades as part of a “debranding” process.

The Taj Mahal was closed in October by its most recent owner, billionaire investor and Trump adviser Carl Icahn.

The suit says TTMA and Palmieri agreed the electrical contractor was to “destroy and dispose of (the letters) in a landfill or other appropriate refuse facility."

The signs were not to be sold or given away, according to TTMA.

Serge Bycov, of Philadelphia, removes the Trump name from a sign at the entrance of the former Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City on Feb. 15

The suit does not say why the firm wanted the signs destroyed.

Palmieri hired Eastern Sign Tech, a firm based in Burlington Township, to remove the letters that spelled T-R-U-M-P on two signs at Virginia and Pacific avenues.

It says the letters were lying on TTMA property when one or more RUMP representatives "drove up in a Revel casino security pickup truck and approached an employee of Eastern."

The Eastern worker "impermissibly" sold the signs for $250, according to the suit. It says the letters are now believed to be in “an undisclosed location” in Philadelphia.

RUMP asserts TTMA gave up ownership of the signs “by contracting for the disposal of the letters once they were removed."

The Philadelphia firm’s lawsuit, filed Feb. 24 in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia, also names Eastern Sign as a defendant. It contends Eastern should be required to compensate RUMP for the signs' fair market value if it “cannot deliver title to the ten iconic letters.”

RUMP’s suit notes Trump has “jealously guarded his brand and successfully created a situation where his name or association with his name lends value to what might otherwise be an ordinary product.”

And because Trump lost control of the Taj Mahal during a bankruptcy, the lawsuit says, the signs’ value is increased even more “by virtue of its association with one of Trump’s more notorious business failures.”

Attorneys for the companies could not be reached for immediate comment.

Jim Walsh; (856) 486-2646; jwalsh@gannettnj.com