Land Owners Trump The Donald

Clare and Vincent Sabatini have been involved in a five-year battle against multi-millionaire Donald Trump. Trump wanted their restaurant and two other properties to be condemned so that he could buy them below market value and use the space for parking and limousine waiting area for Trump Plaza.

But in what is being compared to David versus Goliath, the Sabatinis won and are able to keep their restaurant. CBS 'This Morning' Correspondent Hattie Kauffman reports.
"I told him that he was like a character in a Danielle Steel novel. He has tenacity and that is how he does business."

Clare Sabatini

Sabatini's Restaurant

"There are Donald Trumps all over the world," says Russian immigrant Clare Sabatini. "The judge left this message to government partiesÂ…that businesses and government can't do this."

If interested in the three properties, Trump will have to negotiate with the owners rather than acquire them at bargain basement prices using eminent domain, the right of the government to appropriate private property for public use, usually with some compensation to the owner.

"We could have taken their money when it was offered, but we wanted to have some say. The way they approached us was like we had nothing to do with it and they were going to take it," says Sabatini.

To Sabatini, however, the real betrayal was on the part of the government. "The government sent letters saying that if we didn't leave in 30 days, they woulput us out," she says. "I was told that I could be handcuffed and put out in the street if I didn't agree to leave. And that was long before money even came up."

Trump and CREDA can appeal the decision, although neither party has reacted or made any public statements.