Heritage Auctions

[Exhibitman]

I do not believe for a moment that Heritage will sue over the jokes and opinions of chat board posters, regardless of the threats their flack makes [bad public relations move, dude--when trying to plead your case to the public, generally not a good idea to insult or threaten them]. It isn't so much the virtually impossible task of proving actual damages [you can still win a defamation per se case without actual damages], it is that Heritage would have to overcome the opinion and parody defenses, which I believe are dispositive in this case and would likely result in a summary disposition of the case. Not only that, the moment Heritage alleges lost profits or business damage the ensuing discovery into the company's finances and business conduct would force Heritage to open its books and records, something I do not think the owners of any private enterprise want to do.

I also don't see any intelligent attorney telling Heritage to file a defamation case because the blowback would undermine their auction structure. Iin my opinion their auction rules are designed not for transparency but for plausible deniability: as long as bidders don't know which lots Heritage house bid, they can tell themselves that their lots weren't house bid. Discovery in litigation could create real transparency by potentially forcing Heritage to state exactly which lots it bid on and when. Even if I suspected a house bid had been used to run up the price of a lot, I know that if I actually discovered that I might have won a lot for hundreds or even thousands less than I paid but for Heritage's bid, I'd be very pissed. Certainly, I'd never do business with them again.