Starpoint Resort Group Lawsuit: Key Cases and Complaints

Starpoint Resort Group, the Las Vegas timeshare company operating under the Sapphire Resorts brand, has been the subject of multiple lawsuits going back to 2009, spanning consumer fraud allegations, a Fair Labor Standards Act class action, and employment discrimination claims. Most have ended in dismissal or settlement without any admission of wrongdoing, and several out-of-state cases have been thrown out on jurisdictional grounds because Starpoint’s contracts require disputes to be handled in Clark County, Nevada.¹²

Who Starpoint Is

Starpoint Resort Group, Inc. is headquartered at 235 East Warm Springs Road in Las Vegas and operates as a timeshare developer and seller. It was founded in 2004 as a subsidiary of BQ Resorts LLC and manages 21 timeshare resorts serving roughly 50,000 owners across North America and the Caribbean.³ Florida corporate records list Michael J. Muldoon as its CEO, president, chairman, and director.⁴ Litigation has generally named Starpoint together with related entities: Sapphire Resorts LLC, GeoHoliday Club, and GeoPartners Development, which share officers and a principal address with Starpoint.⁵

The 2019 Consumer Fraud Case in Clark County

The largest and most detailed lawsuit against Starpoint was filed in April 2019 by eleven plaintiffs in the Eighth Judicial District Court of Clark County, Nevada (Case No. A-19-793187-C). The defendants included Starpoint, Sapphire Resorts, GeoHoliday Club, GeoPartners Development, Wyndham Vacation Ownership, and RCI LLC.⁵

The complaint described sales presentations lasting two to four hours during which consumers allegedly were not allowed to leave for meals, discuss the pitch privately, or take contracts home to review overnight. Sales staff were said to have pitched timeshares as profitable real-estate investments that would appreciate and generate rental income, when in fact, according to the plaintiffs, many had no resale value at all.⁵

The plaintiffs also alleged that contracts contained “multigenerational” liability provisions that were never disclosed, meaning heirs would inherit rising maintenance fees after the original buyer’s death. Once maintenance fees and interest were factored in, some owners said they were paying between $8,000 and $14,000 per week of actual use. The plaintiffs also complained that the RCI booking system was restrictive and that desirable locations were rarely available.⁵

They sought rescission of their contracts and punitive damages. Starpoint’s lawyers moved to dismiss, calling the complaint “hyperbolic and over-dramatic” and describing the contracts as “short” and “straightforward.”¹ The case was dismissed in July 2022, an outcome later described as a settlement in which Starpoint did not admit wrongdoing.⁶

The 2009 Leber Wage Class Action

The first major case against Starpoint came from its own sales staff. In Leber v. Starpoint Resort Group, Inc. (Case No. 2:09-cv-01101, U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada), plaintiffs Michael Leber and Rick Brunton alleged that timeshare sales employees at Starpoint’s Las Vegas locations were paid on commission only and did not receive minimum wage or overtime as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act.⁷

Filed in Clark County state court in June 2009 and removed to federal court, the case was certified for notice to sales employees who had worked at Starpoint in the previous three years. Starpoint settled the class action for $400,000 in 2011 while denying the allegations. The court granted preliminary approval in February 2011, and the case was terminated on July 27, 2011.⁷¹

Patterson v. Sapphire Resorts (2023)

John H. Patterson, a Pennsylvania timeshare owner and military veteran, sued Sapphire Resorts and Starpoint in the Eastern District of New York in 2023 (Case No. 23-CV-2916). Patterson said the defendants contacted him in 2017 to buy out his existing Pennsylvania timeshare and sell him a new one at the Sapphire Property in Las Vegas, and that they falsely represented the program was sanctioned by the Department of Veterans Affairs and targeted him because of his veteran status.²

Patterson signed a purchase agreement on October 1, 2019, at a total financed cost of $10,977.93. He said he tried to raise concerns almost immediately, got no response, and eventually flew to Starpoint’s Las Vegas offices at his own expense, where staff refused to speak with him.²

On November 20, 2024, U.S. Magistrate Judge Steven I. Locke recommended dismissing the case with prejudice. The court found it lacked subject matter jurisdiction because the amount in controversy fell below the $75,000 federal threshold, and lacked personal jurisdiction over the Nevada-based defendants. The court also found the purchase agreement’s arbitration clause and Clark County forum selection clause enforceable, because Patterson had not alleged those specific clauses were fraudulently induced.²

Herman v. Sapphire Resorts (2025)

In early 2025, Scott Herman and Melisa Moya-Macias sued Sapphire Resorts (doing business as Starpoint Resort Group) in the Middle District of Florida (Case No. 8:25-cv-00534). They alleged that during a timeshare presentation in Arizona on August 9, 2023, Starpoint pressured them into buying timeshare points without explaining material contract terms and concealed key provisions. Their amended complaint asserted 16 counts, including fraudulent misrepresentation, concealment of successor liability, violations of the Florida Timeshare Act, and breach of contract.⁸

On May 12, 2025, Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle granted Starpoint’s motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. Starpoint is a Nevada corporation with its principal place of business in Nevada, the transaction occurred in Arizona, and the plaintiffs had not shown enough of a connection between their claims and any Florida-based activity. The dismissal was without prejudice, leaving the plaintiffs free to refile in a court with jurisdiction.⁸

Hill v. Starpoint Resort Group (2025)

In January 2025, Jason R. Hill filed an employment discrimination lawsuit against Starpoint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada (Case No. 2:25-cv-00214), citing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. After an early neutral evaluation session failed to produce a settlement in August 2025, Judge Gloria M. Navarro dismissed the case with prejudice on October 27, 2025, with each party bearing its own costs.⁹

Why Out-of-State Cases Keep Getting Dismissed

A recurring pattern in Starpoint’s litigation is the enforceability of its contract terms. Its timeshare purchase agreements include a mandatory arbitration clause and a forum selection clause requiring all disputes to be litigated exclusively in Clark County, Nevada.² Both the Patterson case in New York and the Herman case in Florida were dismissed because the courts found these clauses enforceable and concluded they lacked personal jurisdiction over the Nevada company. For an owner elsewhere in the country, those contract provisions effectively require traveling to Las Vegas and pursuing arbitration rather than filing suit at home.

Regulatory Complaints Without Enforcement

Alongside the private lawsuits, consumers have taken their grievances to Nevada regulators. Between 2015 and 2019, at least 56 complaints against Starpoint were filed with the Nevada Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, with another 35 lodged with the Nevada Department of Business and Industry. The complaints described aggressive sales tactics, misleading information about timeshare contracts, and the sale of unusable timeshare points.¹

No state enforcement action was ever taken. Records reviewed by The Nevada Independent showed no criminal implication and no state penalties, and the absence of enforcement extended across the tenures of three successive Nevada attorneys general: Catherine Cortez Masto, Adam Laxalt, and Aaron Ford. The lack of action drew attention because Starpoint and CEO Michael Muldoon contributed more than $50,000 to Laxalt’s political campaigns between 2014 and 2021, including $30,000 toward his 2018 gubernatorial bid and $5,800 toward his 2022 U.S. Senate campaign, and Starpoint separately donated $30,000 to Laxalt’s “Morning in Nevada” political action committee between 2016 and 2019. After leaving office, Laxalt joined the law firm Cooper & Kirk, where his Senate campaign disclosures identified Starpoint as one of his eight private clients.¹ Available records do not show that Laxalt was personally aware of the specific consumer complaints during his time as attorney general.

1
The Nevada Independent. Timeshare Company With Close Laxalt Ties Generated Dozens of Customer Complaints to Then-AGs Office
2
GovInfo. Patterson v Sapphire Resorts and Starpoint Resort Group Inc
3
ZoomInfo. Starpoint Resort Group Inc Company Profile
4
Florida Division of Corporations. Starpoint Resort Group Inc Detail
5
The Abrams Firm. GeoHoliday Sapphire Starpoint Litigation Complaint
6
The Nevada Independent. Trump FBI Pick Kash Patels Vegas Roommate Is Timeshare Tycoon Accused of Shady Practices
7
CourtListener. Leber v Starpoint Resort Group Inc
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CaseMine. Herman v Sapphire Resorts
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PACER Monitor. Hill v Starpoint Resort Group Inc