update on the Miller vs. PSA lawsuit -- Miller owes PSA!!

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Posted By: Peter_Spaeth

For those of you hoping for the demise of PSA, no dice gents.

Collectors Universe, Inc. (Nasdaq: CLCT - News), a leading provider of value-added authentication and grading services to dealers and collectors of high-value collectibles and diamonds, has announced that the Orange County, California trial judge presiding over the action brought against the Company by a former employee, William Miller, has issued a final judgment that the statutory damages owed to plaintiff under California Civil Code Section 3344 are $0.00.

The judgment was entered pursuant to an agreement reached by the parties. The judgment also provides for the Collector's Universe to pay Miller the sum of $14,060, which the jury found were the profits earned by Collector's Universe for the use of Miller's name, and for Miller to pay Collector's Universe the sum of $37,812, representing the aggregate principal amount of certain loans that Collector's Universe had made to Miller while he was employed by Collector's Universe, but which he had failed to repay.

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Posted By: jackgoodman

I'm guessing that without knowing the terms of the private agreement between the parties, we'll never really know who paid who and how much. This news release doesn't really clear PSA. I'm not an attorney nor do I play one on tv......

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Actually, it would seem that the monetary part of the agreement is what is listed in that release. Didn't Miller's attorneys initially claim they won like 10 million from PSA? I guess paying 20K is sort of like winning 10 mil...on Mars?

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Posted By: warshawlaw

would have been a really interesting appellate opinion to read.

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Posted By: jeff lichtman

The truth is, we all talk about how much we hate/love the grading companies. I'm sure all of the filings in this case are public and could be had easily...I bet it would make for more interesting reading than a good part of the stuff we talk about out here.

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Posted By: Anonymous

<<< and for Miller to pay Collector's Universe the sum of $37,812, representing the aggregate principal amount of certain loans that Collector's Universe had made to Miller while he was employed by Collector's Universe, but which he had failed to repay. >>>

Ah yes...so it all comes out in the wash doesn't it? Seems to me like Mr. Miller was really hoping to welch out on paying money he owed to PSA by running up PSA's legal fees to the point whereby PSA would rather settle quickly and wipeoff his debt, rather than persuing the debt. Didn't appear to work did it Mr. Miller? Good for PSA for not backing down from this guy who in my opinion is nothing more than an attempted stiff artist.

Steve Katz

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Even sadder was when Miller's ambulance-chasing, dishonest lawyers claimed, via its own "press release", that they had won something like $10 million from PSA which was quickly revealed to have been a lie and they were ordered by the court to stop putting out the release. Of course, CLCT's stock took a hit on the false news. Question is will another ambulance chaser seek to represent those shareholders who lost money due to the first ambulance chaser's false press release -- and sue that first law firm?

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Posted By: Todd Schultz

I'm sure there was far more to the story than meets the eye on this board. Entering judgments on the record does not necessarily reflect who paid or will pay what to whom. The Settlement Agreement will likely never be seen, it's probably either under seal or the subject of a confidentiality agreement, but I agree the matters filed of record would probably make a good read.

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Posted By: Steve Katz

<<< Didn't Miller's attorneys initially claim they won like 10 million from PSA? I guess paying 20K is sort of like winning 10 mil...on Mars? >>>

Yes, this is quite interesting. One has to wonder if some of those attorneys privately told their family and friends, prior to that announcement, to sell short PSA stock. An investigation should be made into this matter but it probably won't be.

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

It's hard to imagine Miller did much better considering how his attorneys flogged a fraudulent horse in public and now look like complete morons. I suspect had he done better in the settlement they would have fabricated another important "press release" which provided that info.

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Posted By: Steve Katz

<<< I'm sure there was far more to the story than meets the eye on this board. Entering judgments on the record does not necessarily reflect who paid or will pay what to whom. The Settlement Agreement will likely never be seen, it's probably either under seal or the subject of a confidentiality agreement, but I agree the matters filed of record would probably make a good read. >>>

It would be a good read. This whole thing from the beginning seemed to me like a "frivolous" lawsuit. My quick take on it is that Mr. Miller simply thought he could get PSA to quickly wipeoff his debt with the lawsuit, and possibly in his mind make some more money besides. He probably didn't have the money to pay for another retainer, and his attorneys privately amongst themselves probably viewed the lawsuit as basically unwinnable and wouldn't take it further on a contingency basis, so Mr. Miller was dead in the water.

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Posted By: Todd Schultz

<<I suspect had he done better in the settlement they would have fabricated another important "press release" which provided that info.>>

As I said, the settlement is probably subject to confidentiality, if so, there would be no press release.

Steve, the lawsuit was hardly frivolous, and indeed, the jury found that CU had violated the law--that Collectors Universe used Miller's name on 14,060 Certificates of Authenticity without his permission. Keep in mind that the statute CU violated also allows for recovery of costs and fees to Miller, so your comments to the effect that his lawyers would cut and run rather than continue the matter is inane speculation. At this point, appellate briefs are an incredibly small amount of work given what would have been expended taking the matter from inception to a jury trial. Given the potential upside of a successful appeal versus the work involved in pursuing it, I would have to think that the fees were not a factor, and that there is,as I said, more to this than meets the eye.

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Todd, fair points. What we do know for certain, however, is that Miller appears to have gotten the very short end in this case and that possibly his lawyers engaged in fraud in connection with the press release and the subsequent drop in the stock price (or at least may have partially caused - intenionally or otherwise - the drop in the price).

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Posted By: Peter_Spaeth

Would a lawyer do something as disreputable as to issue a false press release to manipulate a company's stock price? We are such an honorable bunch, hard to believe.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

that confidential settlements with companies concerned with public image often result in agreed-upon press releases that may not reflect the facts of the settlement or the reasons that led to it.

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Posted By: Steve Katz

Todd - You have your interpretation, I have my interpretation, and of course the jury had their interpretation. In my view, the settlement is what it is and your comments could also be classified as inane speculation. Mr. Miller clearly thought his "reputation" was at stake in this lawsuit, so a worded settlement such as this with your lawyerspeak interpretation that there is "more to this than meets the eye" doesn't make sense. Mr. Miller as I see it, with a statement such as this, has actually soiled his "reputation" by making it known that he couldn't pay his owed debt to PSA and many if not most are going to interpret this as simply an attempt by him to weasel out of this debt via a lawsuit. Unless his attorney fees were less than the $14,000 he gained from that jury verdict, then his attempt failed.

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Do laywers actually try civil cases (from extensive discovery to trial) for 14K? Or is this the sort of thing someone would take on contingency? I can't imagine a careful lawyer who investigated the claims here would devote two years of his life to such a case without getting paid something up front....

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Posted By: Steve Katz

<<< Do laywers actually try civil cases (from extensive discovery to trial) for 14K? >>>

Well, at a probable rate of $250 per hour, the break even point for Mr. Miller was 56 attorney hours - LOL.