How to get ripped off by SCP Auctions & Sotheby's

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Posted By: Jason Mishelow

Hello Ryan

I practice in Wisconsin so the local rules may be a bit different but here's a general attempt to answer your questions

1. It is very unlikely that you will be able to sue for lost time or lost wages incurred as part of figting the case. I think that attorney fees are a possibility. the general rule concerning fees is that you recover your fees if the court finds that the other party basically took a postion that had no legal merit. So its not just that you win the case but that judge decides that the auction house was justing wasting time.

2. If you come to some settlement with the auction house the parties can pretty much agree to anything that they want to- it could include atty fees, a partial payment, a credit- rarely would a judge fail to approve a stipulation that the parties present

3. As far as a dimished value type claim I think that you are correctly noting that the main issue is going to be presenting evidence as to value. You will most likely need a expert which may cost money

4. The most pressing problem however may be an issue concerning jurisdiction. This is way to complicated for this forum but to give a cliff notes version there are rules as to where a lawsuit can be commenced. These rules are even more complicated when dealing with corperation. i don't know where you live but it may be required that you sue the auction house in the auction houses home state. this is an issue a lawyer would need to do a fiar amount of research on

So in sort it is not going to be that easy to sue but you may want to call around becuase this is the type of case that lawyers like to take if they feel that they can make some headlines

In any event good luck- and ignore the spelling in this post- I am a much better lawyer then speller

Jason