A customer of Profiles in History, Dwight Manley, has this week filed a lawsuit against the auction house in Los Angeles Superior Court. Manley is suing over a costume worn by James Gandolfini in the final episode of The Sopranos, and has also named The Golden Closet as a Defendant as the company was the consignor of the item in question. His complaint alleges fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and breach of express warranty. [Read more…]
One of the most significant scandals to hit Hollywood memorabilia collecting in the past decade was a series of discoveries in the poster community relating to purported fraudulent movie posters and one sheets. A new update was published yesterday on the MoPo Mailing List at FilmFan.com by Dianne Jeffrey, President and CEO of Studio Conservation Inc. Ms. Jeffrey was the professional who did some of the restoration work (in good faith) on the Dracula poster consigned to a Profiles in History auction in which it was featured on the cover of their “Hollywood Auction 37” sale event in 2009. Ms. Jeffrey has stated on MoPo that she received notice of a default judgment against her from Thomas Rega “in the amount of $263,312.50, plus attorney fees of $18,134.80”; she is a resident of California and the lawsuit was filed against her in New Jersey and she did not represent herself and/or her business in court. Interestingly, Profiles in History was previously awarded a default judgment against Thomas Rega in their own lawsuit filed against him in California. [Read more…]
Auction house Profiles in History filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court last week against one of its customers, Albert Tapper, claiming that the buyer won two items in their “Hollywood Auction 53” sale event last month, but only agreed to pay for one (“Lot 197 | Clark Gable early signed, handwritten letter to his dad”) that sold for $8,000 plus buyer’s premium, and not the more expensive lot (“Lot 422 | Charlton Heston “Moses” prop Ten Commandments tablets from The Ten Commandments”) which realized $60,000 plus buyer’s premium. [Read more…]
HollywoodPatch today published a report that Erik Anderson filed a lawsuit against Profiles in History, Joe Maddalena, and producers Shevick*Zupon Entertainment and Zupon Entertainment over the idea for their SyFy television series, Hollywood Treasure. Per their article, Mr. Anderson claims to have pitched Mr. Maddalena the idea for a show with the same concept, which he called Hollywood Forgotten, in October 2009, and he also published four episodes of his show on YouTube. [Read more…]
Following last month’s development of a jury rejecting a lawsuit by collector Richard LaPointe over the canceled “Neverland” auction of Michael Jackson memorabilia, Julien’s Auction has now filed its own complaint against Live Auctioneers, the online bidding service provider for the event. The new complaint, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, cites two causes of auction – breach of contract and negligence. [Read more…]
Today the Beverly Hills Courier published the latest breaking news about the ongoing legal action brought by collector Richard LaPointe against MJJ Productions, Julien’s Auctions, and others. According to the news story, the “jury today rejected a lawsuit in which a collector of celebrity memorabilia maintained that a Los Angeles auction house broke a contract to sell him 14 items that belonged to Michael Jackson“, following 30 minutes of deliberation.
Today the Beverly Hills Courier published an update on the ongoing legal action brought by collector Richard LaPointe against MJJ Productions, Julien’s Auctions, and others. Per the article, Michael Jackson’s estate will sell LaPointe 64 of the 80+ items under dispute, which were pulled from public auction in 2009 when the entire sale was canceled following a settlement between MJJ Productions and Julien’s Auctions in their own legal dispute. [Read more…]
As reported throughout 2009 and last updated over one year ago, efforts by Julien’s Auctions to offer for sale memorabilia owned by Michael Jackson were embroiled in controversy and legal action, which ultimately led to the cancellation of the event following a settlement between the auction house and MJJ Productions. The pop star died just two months later. [Read more…]