Lack of intent seen in flubs at auctions
BY MICHAEL O'KEEFFE
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Sunday, July 15th 2007, 4:00 AM
An Indiana judge ruled last week that while a sports collectibles auction house misrepresented some of the 2,000 autographed photographs it sold to memorabilia dealer Bill Daniels, there was no evidence that Mastro Auctions intended to defraud the collector.
The ruling dealt a blow to Daniels' attempts to hold the hobby's largest auction house accountable for what he claimed were items that were misrepresented or possibly fakes. He had purchased 2,000 photos of athletes from Mastro Auctions in 2004.
Boone County Superior Court Judge Matthew C. Kincaid ordered Mastro Auctions to pay Daniels $9,000 for the photos he purchased that did not match the description in Mastro's December 2004 catalogue. But Kincaid ruled that Daniels presented no evidence that Mastro intended to defraud him, and it's a significantly smaller award than Daniels had hoped for.
Mastro president Doug Allen said he hopes the award will be slashed after an appeal. "I feel this is a big victory for us," Allen said.
Kincaid also ordered Daniels to pay Mastro Auctions $1,000 for making defamatory statements about the Burr Ridge, Ill., company to the media, although the judge declined to impose punitive damages. Daniels was also ordered to pay $2,000 for failing to produce documents during discovery.
Daniels declined to discuss Kincaid's decision. His attorney, S. Andrew Burns, did not return a phone call for comment.
In the lawsuit filed last year, Daniels said he had spent almost $20,000 to win a lot containing more than 2,000 color autographed 8x10 photos of athletes, including pictures of Mickey Mantle, Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali. But when Daniels received the lot, according to Kincaid's ruling, he found that 123 photos were either black-and-white or smaller than the 8x10 cited in Mastro's catalogue. Daniels also claimed that some of the autographs on the photos may be fakes.
Daniels contacted Mastro Auctions and demanded his money back. Allen said the company offered to take back any photos that were undersized or black-and-white and refund Daniels' money for those pictures. Daniels turned down the deal, and filed his lawsuit.
Both sides presented their evidence to Kincaid in March, but the judge did not issue a ruling until Wednesday.
The testimony of two experts hired by Daniels to testify that some of the autographs on the photos were forgeries was excluded by the judge. Kincaid said neither Richard Simon nor Stephen Koschal "possess sufficient skill, knowledge or experience in the fields in which they were asked to render opinions."
BY MICHAEL O'KEEFFE
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Sunday, July 15th 2007, 4:00 AM
An Indiana judge ruled last week that while a sports collectibles auction house misrepresented some of the 2,000 autographed photographs it sold to memorabilia dealer Bill Daniels, there was no evidence that Mastro Auctions intended to defraud the collector.
The ruling dealt a blow to Daniels' attempts to hold the hobby's largest auction house accountable for what he claimed were items that were misrepresented or possibly fakes. He had purchased 2,000 photos of athletes from Mastro Auctions in 2004.
Boone County Superior Court Judge Matthew C. Kincaid ordered Mastro Auctions to pay Daniels $9,000 for the photos he purchased that did not match the description in Mastro's December 2004 catalogue. But Kincaid ruled that Daniels presented no evidence that Mastro intended to defraud him, and it's a significantly smaller award than Daniels had hoped for.
Mastro president Doug Allen said he hopes the award will be slashed after an appeal. "I feel this is a big victory for us," Allen said.
Kincaid also ordered Daniels to pay Mastro Auctions $1,000 for making defamatory statements about the Burr Ridge, Ill., company to the media, although the judge declined to impose punitive damages. Daniels was also ordered to pay $2,000 for failing to produce documents during discovery.
Daniels declined to discuss Kincaid's decision. His attorney, S. Andrew Burns, did not return a phone call for comment.
In the lawsuit filed last year, Daniels said he had spent almost $20,000 to win a lot containing more than 2,000 color autographed 8x10 photos of athletes, including pictures of Mickey Mantle, Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali. But when Daniels received the lot, according to Kincaid's ruling, he found that 123 photos were either black-and-white or smaller than the 8x10 cited in Mastro's catalogue. Daniels also claimed that some of the autographs on the photos may be fakes.
Daniels contacted Mastro Auctions and demanded his money back. Allen said the company offered to take back any photos that were undersized or black-and-white and refund Daniels' money for those pictures. Daniels turned down the deal, and filed his lawsuit.
Both sides presented their evidence to Kincaid in March, but the judge did not issue a ruling until Wednesday.
The testimony of two experts hired by Daniels to testify that some of the autographs on the photos were forgeries was excluded by the judge. Kincaid said neither Richard Simon nor Stephen Koschal "possess sufficient skill, knowledge or experience in the fields in which they were asked to render opinions."
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