Quote:
Originally Posted by Smarti5051
The defense points to Exhibit A, first sentence of description: "If there is any item in the field of sports collectibles that needs no embellishment, it is this historic piece: the final touchdown ball of Tom Brady’s career."
Though represented as fact that the ball was the final touchdown of Tom Brady's career, his final touchdown in fact occurred in 2023. As such, whether intentional or innocent, the factual representation is false. This representation was material to the contract, as the plaintiff notes the football is a "historic piece" requiring no embellishment, because it was represented to be the final touchdown ball of Tom Brady's career. Moreover, whether known or unknown to the parties at the time of the auction, Tom Brady had, in fact, been in negotiations with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to extend his career prior to the conclusion of the auction. As such, a material ambiguity concerning the consideration for defendant's promise to pay precludes a meeting of the minds as to what was being purchased, and an enforceable contract was not forged between the parties.
I would liken this to a Honus Wagner card that sells at auction for $2 million and is later deemed to be fake by a third party authenticator. At the time of the sale, the auction house and the buyer (and perhaps the seller) all believed the card was an original. The contract was premised on the card being an original, authentic Honus Wagner card. In fact, and unknown to all parties, the Honus Wagner card was not what the parties had bargained for. So, the buyer would be entitled to void the contract, even though the card that was listed could technically be provided to the buyer.
Common sense will likely rule the day on this one.
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All due respect, I don't think your Wagner card example is the same thing as what is going on here. Now if it was later found that the football turned out to NOT be the actual football Brady threw for that last TD, then I think your point has some merit.
I know we have lawyers on here who are weighing in, but they are just speculating as well. Think of it this way, under whatever state's law is applicable, when is the actual transaction considered binding? I'm assuming it is when the bid is made, accepted, and the auction officially ended. Now there may be some wording in the contracts/terms of agreement that stipulate that the transaction isn't finalized and binding on both sides tlll the payment is made, and the item is received by the buyer, or maybe something else. But I really don't think that will end up being the case.
And what would be the result if things were reversed? Assume Brady hadn't announced his retirement yet, and was fully expected to play at least one more season, and throw many more touchdowns. The football was auctioned off and won by someone thinking they had just won a Brady thrown TD football. But then the day after the auction ended and the winner was announced, but before they paid the money to Leland's, Brady shocks everyone and suddenly retires, now making that the football Brady threw for his last career TD. So the consigner immediately calls Leland's and tells them to cancel the auction and pull the football. So now what happens?
And remember, this isn't like Ebay that merely offers the platform for buyers and sellers to get together. Leland's was specifically hired by, and working for, the consigner, not the buyer/auction winner. I would think they are obligated to look out for the consigner's best interests, and fulfill their contract with them.
Quite frankly, if Leland's decides to just cancel the auction and let the auction winner off the hook for some good publicity or whatever reason, they would immediately, and permanently, be removed from my consigning anything to them, ever!