PSA / JSA liability

[Klrdds]

Just curious because of all the mistakes that they have made during their existence could PSA or to a lesser extent JSA ever be hit with a lawsuit or a "class action" type of lawsuit for all the autographs they issued auction cert letters for or outright certed that were later found to be not good ?

[mr2686]

Short answer is no, mainly because at the end of the day it's just an opinion.

[Lordstan]

I have not heard of one, but I assume they would use the defense Mike stated. We are only providing an opinion and not a guarantee.
I would think it might be possible to sue them for not performing their job if you could show that they did not inspect an item they for which they provided an auction cert. Not sure what their liability could be though. Perhaps the cost of the cert. I would think it would be a significant black mark on their reputation as well as the reliability of the AH involved if discovered to be true. That would probably be much more damaging than the award. Not sure how it would ever be proven though. I don't think you would get any AH to cooperate with someone trying to prove this.

[chaddurbin]

Lol if all the forensic experts are still free to cert all the bad fakes without repercussions then the "legit" experts have nothing to worry about.

[Leon]

It is all just an opinion unless you got it yourself. According to the FBI last night, speaking at the Net54 dinner, they are difficult cases because of some of the things stated in this thread. I would say if you had video of someone making fakes and selling them as real then you could have a case. Good luck on that.

[keithsky]

Their certs used to say years ago "Guaranteed Authentic" as I remember. That might have got them thinking we better change that to "Its our opinion" or words to that so they don't get sued. Must have gotten fancy lawyers involved to ask what words can we use so we wont get sued. Probably said just say it's an opinion and your safe. Must work cause all the crooked ones are using it and getting away with it.

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by chaddurbin

Lol if all the forensic experts are still free to cert all the bad fakes without repercussions then the "legit" experts have nothing to worry about.

I wrote about that numerous times a long time ago, but still a great point to bring up.

If the likes of Chris "I Never Saw An Autograph I Didn't Like" Morales, Stephen Rocchi (GFA), Drew Max and the rest of the Forensic crew don't have the anyone chasing them, then PSA, JSA, etc. shouldn't have anything to worry about.

[drcy]

If collectors and the hobby treated the letters as third party opinions in the first place-- which is what they are--, there wouldn't be this issue. The problem isn't that they are offering opinions, but that make people try to take them as or make them into something that they aren't.