Barrett-Jackson Lawsuit

[Tenney]

Outside chance more folks'll be tuning in to the auction coverage on Speed?

[PeteLeathersac]

With so many issues of late to consider especially after Scottsdale, how convenient the confusion be focused on this Cuda case all while everyone slips into the Palm Beach sale....smoothly done?.

And whatever way the Cuda case itself turns out, I'm happy the buyer ended up with the car...who is he?.

~ Pete

[70 copo]

IMO... The Judge picked this fight from the start -I think from the minute the gavel came down he was gonna get his "pay back".

Objectively there would have been no war to wage with anyone with a reserve format. Judge could have then thrown tomatoes at himself.

Pass the popcorn. I think win or loose BJ still looks like they are beating up on the small guy, on an issue that was mostly forgotten. Now it is all dredged up again. Not good.

[quick-bowtie]

whether people want to admit it or not there was some shady things at this years auction.."more than normal I should say" I DONT think Barrett Jackson is behind it but they should take a strong approch to fixing it. I personally saw more than once a car getting bid up and then the high bidder stating he didnt bid that amount and backing out and sellinhg to the next lowest bidder.. I can see that happening on accident but this happened ALOT. Barrett should have throwen these guys out on there butt for running up the bid which was cleary what was being done. And from my personal experince which chaps me to this day is I clearly had the high bid at 95k on the Motion Race car (bidder assistant had his arm in the air with his fist clinched and yellow hanky with me) and they break away to take about the car again and when they starting taking bids again a guy in the sky box has the bid at 95k???? what the heck I clearly had it and then they asked if I wanted to bid again? Ahh NO THANKS I dont play that game.

As for selling a car every seller knows what he is getting into prior to the auction so crying about it falls on deaf ears I think, but Barrett really needs to crack down on a few things and not let so many spectators in there because its hard to see a real bidder if they want to bid, I personally thought the RAM CHARGERS car was a steal it should have done 500k on the bottom side but thats the chance you take when bringing it to a no reserve auction.. It for sure was not the only GREAT buy at the sale and you dont see any other guys crying foul. They need to make it a car auction again and not the circus it has turned into. JMHO

In my opinion Mecum Auctions will be the PRIME USDA STEAK of the Auction world in the NEAR NEAR future, they are way more people friendly and down to earth, and best of all they have just a plain and simple car auction.

[nuch_ss396]

Anyone wondering about the Judge in this case? If he is a
Judge, he must know the law ( one would hope anyway ) and I
doubt he would put himself in harms way if he didn't really
get rooked. This is going to get interesting.

[Les Quam]

Don't feel bad Charley I couldn't find the video either until you asked. I was waiting for someone as clueless as I am to ask where it is. Thanks.

Does anyone know who has actually seen a BJ consignment contract if it states each seller will get a full three minutes on the block? Absent that language BJ can run the cars through at any speed that they want, and essentially drop the hammer when ever they want leaving this judge without a counter claim. His claims of negligence are baseless.

This Michigan probate judge has got some problems right now. First he has to respond to the lawsuit regardless of it's merits in Arizona federal court and file an answer to the suit, or resolve it with BJ attorney's before his time to file an answer is up. BJ attorney's now have been paid a retainer to file this suit and realize their client(BJ) has deep pockets and are not going to be motivated to resolve this before running up as much billable hours as humanly possible.

Presumably this Michigan judge is not licensed in Arizona or that Federal district and would need to get the Federal district's judge's approval to make an appearance in that district. I would also presume as a Michigan probate judge he has a full docket every day in Michigan and can't allocate much time to responding to this suit. Nor can he just fly down to Arizona each week to handle the various motions BJs highly paid attorney's will be filing as fast as they can. That being said the Michigan probate judge will probably have a limited legal background on this new and lucrative field of internet defamation, and he probably hasn't looked at the law regarding defamation since law school. I would suspect he will be forced to hire an Arizona attorney who specializes in this area of the law and is also licensed to practice in Federal court which costs more than an attorney whose practice is primarily state court. I would suggest that his 75K profit from the sale of that car will be depleted rather quickly in defending this suit. If he elects to file a counter claim against BJ for breach of contract or some form of negligence that will add more to his fee's. Perhaps he can find an attorney friend from Michigan who is willing to get certified to practice in Arizona federal court and fly down to represent him, but that will also involve quite a bit of expense. Ugh!

Even if this judge is somehow able to file a counter claim or perhaps a class action lawsuit with the help of other unhappy sellers it is going to be very expensive and problamatic for him.

His prospects will all come down to the contract he signed when he consigned the car, otherwise defending this suit is going to be very expensive. IMHO and my two cents.

[king_midas]

I totally agree with the above post.

Regardless of the situation, why one would attempt to sue a judge is beyond me, and leads me to believe that the BJ people feel they carry a big stick.

Either way you slice it, the premise of the lawsuit (libel), if substantiated by the blogger with factual information, isn't libel. Because this was covered on T.V., and with witnesses, I'd say that BJ should have just forgotten this and moved on. Or, recognized it as a legitimate gripe, addressed each of the blogger's issues, and improved their (BJ's) operations. Instead, they choose to sue...? Un, not the smartest move.

Anyhoo, whatever... BJ probably sees this as a chance to make more $$, and is blind to the fact that lawsuits are damaging-- Think about it, even if BJ wins, they lose.

[kwhizz]

MIdas.........Who cares if the guy is a Judge or a Waiter..........It's a matter of "Right" and "Wrong".......Don't you Get it.....
There are two actions at stake here....The Libel ( Tough to Resolve).....and the Actions of the Seller after the Sale............Why are you Blaming B-J........Were they the ones that Breached the Sales Contract........Remember......After the Gavel is dropped....the car has a New Owner......How would you feel if you had bought the car and this guy comes over and decides that even though you bought the car thru a Legal Venue, that he didn't want you to have it put the chains thru the rims (scratching them) and padlocked everything......what if the next guy decides to sabotage the engine or whatever because they are "UnHappy" with the Results.........Where does it end????
B-J is doing what they have to do........Don't you understand that.........Again.......what if "You" had bought that car

[Charley Lillard]

Les...Someone had posted the consignment contract on another site and there is no gaurantee of 3 minutes on the block. The language was clear that Barrett-Jackson could make all the decisions as to how long it was on the block. I think B-J is correct in going after this guy. The fact that he is a judge just re-enforces that even supposedly smart people can do really stupid things. As to the value. I'm would not pay 300K for that car. A friend that has some of the best Mopars had no interest in that car.

[P.J.]

In this life right or wrong is usualy defined by how much legal fire power you can afford. Just ask OJ.I know one thing I would be very reluctant to go against a judge.
I think that there is a lot more to this episode than meets the eye. .I also hope that it is not swept under the rug.We might just learn something."HEAR COMES DA JUDGE"
Its popcorn time!
Sorry I dont have a pic of "the Judge"

PJ