Efforts by Donald Trump's attorney to strike a defense offered by the developer of one of his residential towers in Tampa has been shot down by the judge overseeing the case.

U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore denied a motion Wednesday filed by Trump attorney Christopher L. Griffin of Tampa's Foley & Lardner LLP last month that argued SimDag LLC - the developer of Trump Tower Tampa - didn't provide facts that would be considered beyond the level of speculation in responses filed at the beginning of the year.

"Motions to strike are generally disfavored," Whittemore said in his ruling. At the same time, while the defenses offered by SimDag in response to Trump's breach of contract suit over the licensing of his name may not yet be proven with facts, but they are meant to provide "fair notice" of the "defenses and grounds on which they rest."

Trump sued SimDag/RoBEL - the Tampa developer that later became SimDag LLC - in May 2007 for more than $1 million owned to him from a licensing agreement to use his name for a planned 52-story residential tower slated to bear Trump's name. SimDag chief executive Frank Dagostino claimed in a countersuit filed in January that Trump's disclosure that he was merely a licensor rather than part of the development team might have cause irreparable harm to the project that has been in development limbo for the last three years.

In his response to the counterclaim, Trump said his disclosing of the existence of the license agreement did not violate the terms of the license agreement. The 30-page document, which was signed in October 2004, does contain a confidentiality clause that prevents either side to disclose the existence of the license agreement or any of its contents without the written consent of the other party.

A trial date had been set for Feb. 2.

Dagostino has maintained that Trump will drop the lawsuit if SimDag is able to obtain the financing needed to build the $235 million tower, and make Trump whole in his licensing deal. SimDag is currently trying to obtain contract extensions from potential buyers of the Ashley Drive tower, and said those extensions are needed before an unidentified New York City hedge fund fully commits to the project.