Would you follow through and pay? Brady's last TD

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by BobC

Thanks for responding.

And it sounds like your terms specifically let the consignor know the decision is yours in deciding what to do if a bidder doesn't pay.

Obviously this Brady football case is one that no one likely ever thought of, but now it has happened. And the fact that attorneys could argue that the AH description was a significant part of why an auction winner could just walk away from a transaction, puts the AH in the crosshairs. Leland's may be between a rock and a hard place on this.

So Scott, you don't have to answer this if don't want to, I'll understand, but if you're in Leland's place, what do you do? For $500K you aren't going to use Option #1, at least I'd think not. The buyer and seller are okay and there's no court activity and expenses, but you're probably facing a huge loss when you go to resell the football. Option #2 would still leave the buyer happy, but the seller would be pissed as you've transferred the potential loss to them. And if your auction description was at least partly at fault, chances are the consignor sues you for either not going after the winning bidder, or for the loss in value via the subsequent sale. Either way, you end up making the seller whole, AND incurring a ton of legal expenses. And Option #3 pretty much has the same results as Option #2, except the seller takes the football and sells it through someone else, you still probably get sued by the seller to make them whole, incur a ton of legal expenses, but now you don't even get to offset what would have been your sales commission against what you may now owe the seller. And in this particular case I guess there could also be an Option #4, where you initially go after and sue the auction winner. But failing to win that case, you're still stuck having to face Option #1, #2, or #3, on top of the additional legal expenses you incurred from first rying to win the Option #4 suit. It seems like if you can afford it, and you don't expect to win in court, you actually might best off taking Option #1 right out of the gate.

What do you think?

I have to follow my conscience and return the money. If my consignor wants to litigate that decision then all the arguments that have been advanced in this thread come into play, but between me and my consignor instead of me and my buyer. How was the item listed on the consignment contract? If it was listed as Tom Brady's final TD ball then I think I have a chance. If it was listed in some more nebulous fashion I feel like I'm at risk.

I will say if my company had the $500k (we don't) and it wouldn't cripple us, I would likely pay the consignor. On my scale I have done things like that in the past, it's just my scale is much smaller. Doesn't mean I haven't had to suck up a few that hurt, just that pain is relative. I would think one of the HUGE auction houses shelling out $500k isn't all that different than me shelling out a few grand. That being said I really don't know enough about Leland's to know if they could absorb that kind of hit, and would never presume to say everyone should do things the way I would.

I'd be curious to see if this would be covered by errors and omissions insurance. At the very least my insurance company would likely get involved in the litigation if it came to that, to prove this wasn't an error or omission but an unforeseeable event and back to the arguments we've all been having. I know I'd sure as hell file the claim to get them involved if it came down to it.