Calif's Autographed Sports Card/Memorabilia Law

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Posted By: Robert Plancich

Pursuant to Section 1739.7 " SALE OF AUTOGRAPHED SPORTS MEMORABILIA AS REQUIRED BY LAW, A DEALER WHO SELLS TO A CONSUMER ANY SPORTS MEMORABILIA DESCRIBED AS BEING AUTOGRAPHED FOR TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS ($25) OR MORE MUST PROVIDE A WRITTEN CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY AT THE TIME OF SALE. THIS DEALER MAY BE SURETY BONDED OR OTHERWISE INSURED TO ENSURE THE AUTHENTICITY OF ANY COLLECTIBLE SOLD BY THE DEALER."

"COLLECTIBLE" Means an autographed sports item, including, but not limited to, a photograph, book, ticket, plaque,sports program, TRADING CARD, item of sports equipment or clothing, or other sports memorabilia sold or offered for sale in or from this state by a dealer to a consumer for $25 or more.

"DEALER" means a person who is in the business of selling or offering for sale collectibles in or from this state, exclusively or nonexclusively, or a person by his or her ownoccupation holds himself or herself out as having knowledge or skill peculiar to collectibles , or to whom that knowledge or skill may be attributed by his or her employment of an agent or other intermediary that by his or her occupation holds himself or herself out as having that knowledge or skill. "DEALER" includes an auctioneer who sells collectibles at a public auction auction, and also includes persons who are consignors or respresentatives or agents of auctioneers.

The Certificate of Authenticity shall be in writng and shall be signed by the dealer or his or her authorized agent. This certificate of authenticity shall be in at least 10-point boldface type and shall contain the dealer's true legal name and street address. Each certificate of authenticity shall do all of the following:

(1)Describe the collectible and specify the name of sports personality who autographed it.

(2)Either specify the purchase price and the date of sale or be accompanied by a separate invoice setting forth that information.

(3)Contain an express warranty, which shall be conclusively presumed to be part of the bargain, otf the authenticity of the collectible. This warranty shall not be negated or limited by reason of the lack of words such as "warranty" or "guarantee" or because the dealer does not have a specific intent or authorization to make the warranty or because any statement relevant to the collectible is or purports to be, or is capable of being, merely the dealer's OPINION.

(4)Specify if the collectible is offered as one of a limited edition and, if so, shall specify (A) how the collectible and edition are numbered and (B) the size of the edition and the size of any prior or anticipated future edition, if known, or if not known, the certificate shall contain an explicit statement to that effect.

(5)Indicate whether the dealer is surety bonded or is otherwise insured to protect the consumer against errors and omissions of the dealer and, if bonded or insured, provide proof thereof.

(6)Indicate the last four digits of the dealers resale certificate number from the State Board of Equalization.

(7)Indicate whether the item was autographed in the presence of the dealer.

(8)INDICATE WHETHER THE ITEM WAS OBTAINED OR PURCHASED FROM A THIRD PARTY. IF SO, INDICATE THE NAME AND ADDRESS OF THIS THIRD PARTY.

Any consumer injured by the failure of a dealer to provide a certificate of authenticity containing the information required by this section, or by a dealer's furnishing of a certificate of authenticity that is false, shall be entitled to recover, in addition to actual damages, a civil penalty in an amount equal to 10 times actual damages, plus court costs and reasonable attorney's fees incurred by the consumer in the action. The remedy specified in this section is in addition to, and not in lieu of, any other remedy that may be provided by law.

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Posted By: MW

(8)INDICATE WHETHER THE ITEM WAS OBTAINED OR PURCHASED FROM A THIRD PARTY. IF SO, INDICATE THE NAME AND ADDRESS OF THIS THIRD PARTY.


I was not aware of this one. Interesting.

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Posted By: PASJD

It would be interesting to know how many lawsuits have been brought under this provision and (if so) what the outcomes were. It would also be interesting to know what prompted the California legislature to enact the statute.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

because almost no attorney knows of the statute and most people who have been cheated do not have a case large enough to merit seeing an attorney, or so they think. There is a similar law against selling altered cards without a proper disclosure. Anyone who bought an autograph from a CA-based seller should see a CA-based attorney if they think this law has been violated. I just happen to know a good one

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Posted By: Scott

We all sit like little chilcren at the foot of the hill, listening to the wise master impart his glorious word. I long to one day see him turn his head and acknowledge my presence - oh what a glorious day that would be!

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Posted By: PASJD

Adam, is the burden of proof just preponderance of the evidence, or does one need "clear and convincing" evidence as in a fraud claim? Would the fact that a third-party grader authenticated a card make a lawsuit virtually impossible to win in the case of a slabbed card?

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Posted By: warshawlaw

is always preponderance of the evidence in CA unless the law states otherwise.

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Posted By: HW

Robert,

Is California the only state to have this law or are there other states? Do you know how long this law has been in effect?

Out of curiosity, what happens if a bogus autographed item was purchased before the law went into effect?

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Posted By: PASJD

It strikes me as unlikely the statute would be given retroactive effect so as to apply to transactions completed before its effective date.

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Posted By: hankron

The California Law for autographs, art and collectables, has been in place for a few years. It was put in place in part because of a famous Salvador Dali forgery scandal, though the law has been applied to autographs, memorabilia, etc. For art and collectibles (not sure with autographs) I beleive there is a time limit (1 year?) after the purchase for the collector to act.

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Posted By: hankron

Also, as Adam quickly pointed out, there is a law requiring the full disclosure of restorations and alterations. As with autograph COA, the discloser is in the form of a document detailing the restoration, who did it, etc. Again, I beleive there is a time limit for the buyer to act if he or she has been wronged.

The key is that if a dealer had an item altered, there is no murkey area where the dealer can argue this or that or he said/she said. The dealer is required by law to disclose it on paper, and the dealer having skipped the paperwork hoop is itself ilegal.

To add to the Dali forgery history, there were a lot of forged Salvador Dali prints and such sold by various galleries around the world. These fakes would have been obvious to expert collectors of Dali, but, as with the AAA cutout colletors, these fakes were most often sold to people who didn't know anything. Due in part to these forgeries, California set up a law that all art sold over a certain price (don't now the mimimum required), had to have a LOA offering similar details as the autographe LOAs. They buyer could return it within the time frame if the LOA was wrong. I'm sure California also thought there was an autograph forgery problem, and decided to write laws for the whole kit and kaboodle called art and collectables.

Last, before all Ninja baseball card avengers reach for their tights and black masks, I beleive this law applies to the buyer and seller only. No third parties involved.

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Posted By: Joe P.

runscottierun quote:

"More, oh wise one, more!

We all sit like little chilcren at the foot of the hill, listening to the wise master impart his glorious word. I long to one day see him turn his head and acknowledge my presence - oh what a glorious day that would be!"
*
*
OR:
1. What a wasted day it would be.

2. By reading the entries on this thread it appears that outside of you and Jay Miller, there are some that find the contributions by Mr. Plancich as thought provoking.

It obviously excludes those without thoughts, and those that have an interest in Stabilization.

STABILIZATION:

A word liberated by myself as a form of mockery towards those that are performing, and those that are giving the OK to the enhancing stabilization in my hobbie.

If you like self gratification that's your business, but I prefer the real thing. ... good or bad.

Robert, thank you for stimulating the thoughts among the collectors and the numerologist.

ALL OTHERS NEED NOT APPLY.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

and I must be burnt because Joe's last post went right over my head

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Posted By: Scott

Think of Joe Pee as the Virgil to Robert's Tacitus....in their own minds.

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Posted By: jay behrens

At leat people can't claim that Robert's post are nothing but Bushing bashing. This one doesn't mention him at all.

Jay

Wow upside down is Mom. Mom upside down is what dad wants to see.