It all depends on the warranty made by the person or auction house selling the fake piece. Most Ebay dealers do not use the term "As Is" in their auctions and frankly "as is" usually refers to condition, not originality. "As is without respect to its originality or origin" might cover the seller but again I haven;t seen that one used a whole lot. Auction Houses have various warranties that they provide in their catalogues. The most reputable ones take responsibility for the originality of the pieces they auction. I suppose some might say "As Is" but certainly, not Christie's or Soethby's. FRANC
-----Original Message----- From: MoPo List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Richard Halegua Comic Art Sent: Monday, September 07, 2009 4:41 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [MOPO] Bruce's latest information on the fakes Like I said, if someone made a $4,000 commission on a sale of a $20,000 fake, then at the most that person is ethically obligated to reimburse only the $4,000 he made on the deal, not the entire $20,000 that was paid. And if we table the ethical obligations for a moment, legally, a court would be unlikely to order the repayment of even the $4,000 commission if the person could demonstrate that they knew nothing about the poster being fake and sold it "as is" with no warranty. James both of these statements are incorrect if a dealer middled a piece and was the recipient of the cash from the buyer, then he has a lawful duty to return the full $20,000 unless.... if he was acting only as an agent and he was indemnified (aka insured, or had a waiver) then he may at that point only be responsible for the fee he collected and as an agent. However, the general situation would be different: "you're looking for a Bride of Haggard card and I know someone who has one. Your price is $20,000" though he may be acting as a middleman, the buyer has no direct access to the original seller and the buyer's recourse is only with the person who sold him the item. Further, a lack of knowledge that the item is a forgery does not shield anyone from the civil aspects of a sale, thought it may shield the seller from criminal aspects it's like when you got stopped on a road going 10 miles over the speed limit: you were speeding and to say to a judge "I was ignorant of the speed limit on that street" will not shield you from the fine imposed. Ignorance of the law is not a defense in the eyes of the law. federal and state laws do not allow a seller to claim ignorance. If a card was sold "as an original" and later found to be fake, all laws remain in effect. The seller is directly responsible to the buyer regardless of his position as an honest person If I buy a forgery and sell it, the buyer has legal recourse against me. I in turn have legal recourse against the person who sold me the item. That seller has legal recourse against their source etc all the way down the line until you have the person who bought directly from Haggard or Mendez and whom has a legal and criminal case against such persons for fraud, conspiracy etc. Ron Magid did one deal with Kerry Haggard and so he has a case against Haggard. He did not sue Jaime because they would have to prove Jaime had some knowledge that Magid was being defrauded. However, in Gresham's case, because the fraud was over an extended period of time, it can be presumed that Jaime may have known that Jim was being defrauded and did not speak up, thereby ending the fraud upon discovery and that's why Gresham is able to name Mendez in his lawsuit. I expect that if anything I said was incorrect or misleading that Sean will correct my text Rich Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
