May 21--Donald Trump seems to relish an image as a no-nonsense businessman and boss, some might even say a bully.

But the real estate mogul might have met his match in an Evanston grandmother who had humble beginnings growing up in a children's home.

"Someone had to stand up to him," Jacqueline Goldberg testified Monday at a trial in Chicago that has drawn national attention because of Trump's celebrity.

The 87-year-old Goldberg, now a wealthy financial planner, sued Trump over two condos she bought at his riverfront high-rise. During five hours on the witness stand, she explained how she carefully considered her decision to invest with Trump in 2006 and then felt betrayed two years later when Trump International Hotel and Tower rescinded financial incentives that had attracted her to the project.

"I've been angry," she told the federal jury that could decide the dispute later this week. "I've felt like I've been conned."

Goldberg described how she weighed her options, reluctantly settling on the one she knew would be most difficult and contentious -- taking the billionaire Trump to court.

"I didn't want to be in business with someone who would cheat me," she said. "How would I know he wouldn't do it again?"

Though Trump is not a named defendant, Goldberg's lawsuit forced him to come to Chicago last week to testify, defending the business practices at the luxury hotel. Trump distanced himself from the marketing of the 92-story building, saying he was not involved in key decisions. He repeatedly swiped at Goldberg, calling her out as nervy for suing him after she decided to back out of the deal.

After Trump testified, he called Goldberg's lawsuit a disgrace and accused her of using the "age card" to try to rip him off.

At issue in the trial are financial incentives that Trump Tower offered to buyers of hotel units such as Goldberg, most notably that they would retain an ownership share in the development and share in revenue generated from meeting rooms and ballrooms. Another selling point for Goldberg was an advertised hotel reservation system that would help buyers rent their rooms, she told the jury.

Goldberg testified that all these perks were advertised in brochures and offered as selling points when she met with Trump staff at the Chicago hotel in 2006 and eventually signed a contract for the two condos.

A certified public accountant and estate planner, she said she considered the financial opportunity a unique one, prompting her to pay $500,000 cash deposits on two units.

During two days on the stand, Goldberg drove home the message that after the incentives were yanked, Trump was nobody she wanted to be in business with any longer.

Before completing her testimony Monday, she appeared tired, closing her eyes for a long stretch and rubbing her neck at one point. But the octogenarian witness remained fully engaged, her eyes darting between her attorney and Trump's lawyer as the two bickered over objections. Her answers were calm and polite, reflective perhaps of a different era. "May I go further?" she asked of her attorneys at more than one point before continuing her response.

Trump attorneys have zeroed in on a clause in the condo documents that gave the hotel the option to change any provision of the agreement. Goldberg also had a 10-day window in 2006 when she initially signed her contract to opt out of the deal and get her deposits back.

Under questioning from Stephen Novack, Trump's attorney, Goldberg acknowledged the clause existed. For about 90 minutes, Novack also prodded Goldberg about other contract details that changed as well, suggesting that she was looking for a way to back out of the deal because she had a change of heart.

"That's what this case is about," he said at one point.

"No," Goldberg calmly responded.

Earlier, she testified that she understood the clause would cover any changes dictated by construction issues or code changes. While being questioned again by her own attorney Monday, Goldberg testified that the hotel was advertising the ownership stake when she signed her contract and that she had no reason to think anything that significant would change.

"I had never seen a time when somebody who offered to sell something could change the substance of what he was selling," she said.

Goldberg is not the first investor to sue Trump over the financial incentives offered by the hotel. She testified Monday that she was alerted to the revisions in a February 2008 Tribune article about four other buyers who brought suit over similar issues.

That case settled for an undisclosed amount, according to Trump's lawyer. A number of others have also unsuccessfully filed suit against the hotel. Goldberg's case marks the first time Trump was forced into court here to answer questions about his Chicago development.

Those close to her call Goldberg honest and forthright. They say she felt bullied by Trump and refused to give in when the terms of the deal changed.

Goldberg had a humble start in life, according to her testimony. At age 10 she was taken to live in a children's home in Chicago because her family was too poor to care for her. She worked as a typist, waitress and hatcheck girl at various points in her life to continue her schooling.

She met her husband, Arthur Goldberg, at Roosevelt University. The couple moved to the University of Wisconsin so he could complete a doctoral program in physical chemistry. Once back in Chicago, Goldberg completed her bachelor's degree at Roosevelt and turned her attention to raising the couple's four children.

After her husband suffered a health scare, Goldberg decided to return to Roosevelt in 1979 for her master's in accounting to make sure she could financially take care of the family if her husband could not. More recently, he suffered a stroke, she said.

At some point her husband sold his business for a considerable amount of money, and Goldberg took responsibility for managing the money.

She began investing in Chicago real estate in 1995. During her testimony, she described her financial strategy, saying she considered her investments to be long term. She said she didn't finance any of her investments, instead paying a total of $11 million in cash.

Goldberg faltered only slightly on details, but Trump's lawyer seized on the lapse immediately.

"Do you have trouble remembering things, Mrs. Goldberg?" he asked.

"Not usually," she calmly replied.

Closing arguments are expected Tuesday.

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