Leno sued over sale of Duesenberg in ?sham? auction

[BW86]

Text

Talk show host and Comedian Jay Leno was sued over his purchase of a 1931 Duesenberg luxury roadster valued by its owner at $1.7 million at an auction allegedly set up while the elderly plaintiff was suffering from dementia.

Leno paid $180,000 to the Manhattan garage, which allegedly claimed the now-deceased owner failed to pay his bill and also sold his 1930 Rolls Royce, according to a complaint filed Oct. 14 in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan. Wendy Lubin, daughter of late Macy?s executive John Straus, sued Leno, 58, his company Big Dog Productions Inc., and the Upper East Side Windsor Garage where Straus parked the cars for more than 50 years, according to the complaint.

Why did they sue Leno and not the garage that sold it?

 

[SirStev0]

because they can.

 

[sactoking]

They're probably alleging that Leno knew, or should have known, of their client's incompetence and conspired with the garage to defraud him.

 

[Anubis]

because leno has more money + sueing the garage would not make headlines

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: BW86

Why did they sue Leno and not the garage that sold it?

If the car is really worth $1.7 million, and Leno paid $180k for it, there would be the possibility that the auction wasn't really above board... with the possibility of Leno (or someone working for Leno) was aware that something shady was going on.

Secondly, Leno is in possession of the car, and the guy probably wants to get it back.

I doubt Leno was aware anything shady was going on... wouldn't make any sense.

 

[finite automaton]

Originally posted by: sactoking
They're probably alleging that Leno knew, or should have known, of their client's incompetence and conspired with the garage to defraud him.

This makes absolutely no sense. Leno wouldn't do this sh!t. He's got more money than he knows what to do with.

 

[MisterJackson]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: BW86

Why did they sue Leno and not the garage that sold it?

If the car is really worth $1.7 million, and Leno paid $180k for it, there would be the possibility that the auction wasn't really above board... with the possibility of Leno (or someone working for Leno) was aware that something shady was going on.

Secondly, Leno is in possession of the car, and the guy probably wants to get it back.

I doubt Leno was aware anything shady was going on... wouldn't make any sense.

The guy is dead. Seems his daughter is the one suing, and it sounds like we're only getting one side of the story, obviously.

 

[sactoking]

Originally posted by: MisterJackson

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: BW86

Why did they sue Leno and not the garage that sold it?

If the car is really worth $1.7 million, and Leno paid $180k for it, there would be the possibility that the auction wasn't really above board... with the possibility of Leno (or someone working for Leno) was aware that something shady was going on.

Secondly, Leno is in possession of the car, and the guy probably wants to get it back.

I doubt Leno was aware anything shady was going on... wouldn't make any sense.

The guy is dead. Seems his daughter is the one suing, and it sounds like we're only getting one side of the story, obviously.

Probably suing on behalf of the estate. I don't think she has standing to sue on her own behalf.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: BW86

Why did they sue Leno and not the garage that sold it?

If the car is really worth $1.7 million, and Leno paid $180k for it, there would be the possibility that the auction wasn't really above board... with the possibility of Leno (or someone working for Leno) was aware that something shady was going on.

Secondly, Leno is in possession of the car, and the guy probably wants to get it back.

I doubt Leno was aware anything shady was going on... wouldn't make any sense.

I agree, I'd be doubtful Leno was aware of what was going on.

Leno was likely pulled in just for the publicity/pressure on him. Who knows who is actually right in this case. Definitely seems to be a little shady on the part of the garage. I suppoes they might have stopped taking care of it or something and so its not in the condition that would value it for $1.7million (although if it was still garaged I'd be doubtful it depreciated to $180,000).

OP, they are suing the garage. Also, the guy is dead, it is his daughter who is taking over his estate.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Originally posted by: sactoking

Originally posted by: MisterJackson

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: BW86

Why did they sue Leno and not the garage that sold it?

If the car is really worth $1.7 million, and Leno paid $180k for it, there would be the possibility that the auction wasn't really above board... with the possibility of Leno (or someone working for Leno) was aware that something shady was going on.

Secondly, Leno is in possession of the car, and the guy probably wants to get it back.

I doubt Leno was aware anything shady was going on... wouldn't make any sense.

The guy is dead. Seems his daughter is the one suing, and it sounds like we're only getting one side of the story, obviously.

Probably suing on behalf of the estate. I don't think she has standing to sue on her own behalf.

A legal technicality. She sure as hell would not be suing if the money was going to someone else.

 

[LS8]

This happens all the time. Owner takes car to shop for repair, owner can't pay, shop auctions off car to cover losses. Just because the owner was rich in this case is irrelevant. If you or I were the owner in this case it wouldn't make the news papers. We are only hearing about this because Mr. Leno happened to have the winning bid at the auction for the car.

Nothing will come of this, the case will be thrown out.

 

[BoomerD]

In cases like this, the auction price doesn't have to have any bearing on the actual value of the item, just on the value of what's owed to the person holding the lien. (hard to believe the guy owed $180K in parking fees...)
BUT, once the vehicle is siezed with a mechanic's lien, the legal owner is SUPPOSED to have the opportunity to reclaim the item by paying the amount in arrears.

I suspect the parking garage will lose this case and Leno MAY be required to return the car. (with a refund for the amount paid and probably the shipping costs too)

 

[walrus]

>> Why did they sue Leno and not the garage that sold it?

Because leno has the car

 

[jyates]

Originally posted by: Anubis
because leno has more money + sueing the garage would not make headlines

The first rule of sueing is to sue everyone involved....kind of like shooting a shotgun.

 

[LTC8K6]

Leno knows what the car is worth.

Leno knows he only paid ~10% of it's worth.

Don't see how Leno can play ignorant here.

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: LTC8K6
Leno knows what the car is worth.

Leno knows he only paid ~10% of it's worth.

Don't see how Leno can play ignorant here.

That has no bearing on it. The auction house sold the car to the highest bidder.

If you buy something on E-Bay for less than it's book value, are you in the wrong?


Unless Leno knew all the facts behind the sale of the car, he's NOT in the wrong.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Originally posted by: LTC8K6
Leno knows what the car is worth.

Leno knows he only paid ~10% of it's worth.

Don't see how Leno can play ignorant here.

After reading the entire article, seems that Leno tried to buy the car directly from the guy before, but he wouldn't sell. I'd be doubtful that he would actually conspire with the garage to get them to sell to him, they likely knew he had been interested in it and so told him they were auctioning it off due to the lien.

In a 2007 book titled ?The Hemi in the Barn,? by Tom Cotter, Leno wrote a forward describing his purchase of a 1931, un-restored Duesenberg that he said he found in a Manhattan parking garage, according to the estate?s filing. ?I didn?t want to lose it,? Leno wrote, according to the complaint. ?So I made up a story -- no, it was an absolute lie -- that the car couldn?t be removed from its third-floor home because the new elevator that had been installed several years earlier was too small to fit the car.?

This doesn't exactly speak well for Leno either. Hmm, maybe he is just a douchebag with a lot of money who is a bit too passionate about cars.

 

[TehMac]

Originally posted by: darkswordsman17

Originally posted by: LTC8K6
Leno knows what the car is worth.

Leno knows he only paid ~10% of it's worth.

Don't see how Leno can play ignorant here.

After reading the entire article, seems that Leno tried to buy the car directly from the guy before, but he wouldn't sell. I'd be doubtful that he would actually conspire with the garage to get them to sell to him, they likely knew he had been interested in it and so told him they were auctioning it off due to the lien.

In a 2007 book titled ?The Hemi in the Barn,? by Tom Cotter, Leno wrote a forward describing his purchase of a 1931, un-restored Duesenberg that he said he found in a Manhattan parking garage, according to the estate?s filing. ?I didn?t want to lose it,? Leno wrote, according to the complaint. ?So I made up a story -- no, it was an absolute lie -- that the car couldn?t be removed from its third-floor home because the new elevator that had been installed several years earlier was too small to fit the car.?

This doesn't exactly speak well for Leno either. Hmm, maybe he is just a douchebag with a lot of money who is a bit too passionate about cars.

Who cares? The daughter is a wise and beautiful woman.

 

[cruzer]

Did anyone read the article? Leno apparently tried to buy the car from the owner when he was alive and was told to shove off. He allegedly waited until the guy died and colluded with the garage to do this sham "auction". The garage company allegedly did some sneaky things like refusing the owner's payments for the overdue parking bills in an apparent attempt to force a lien creation.

 

[LS8]

Originally posted by: LTC8K6
Leno knows what the car is worth.

Leno knows he only paid ~10% of it's worth.

Don't see how Leno can play ignorant here.

I suppose you are unfamiliar with how an auction works.

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: cruzer
Did anyone read the article? Leno apparently tried to buy the car from the owner when he was alive and was told to shove off. He allegedly waited until the guy died and colluded with the garage to do this sham "auction". The garage company allegedly did some sneaky things like refusing the owner's payments for the overdue parking bills in an apparent attempt to force a lien creation.

Reading ftw!

 

[Fritzo]

Leno is such a straight arrow, I'd bet he'll pay off whatever she asks just so he doesn't look like a jerk.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: LS8

Originally posted by: LTC8K6
Leno knows what the car is worth.

Leno knows he only paid ~10% of it's worth.

Don't see how Leno can play ignorant here.

I suppose you are unfamiliar with how an auction works.

An auction where items are sold for 10% of their value is not working like an auction is supposed to work. The goal of an auction is to obtain the fair market value of whatever is being sold, which obviously didn't happen here.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: TehMac
Who cares? The daughter is a wise and beautiful woman.

I think that was undeserved.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Originally posted by: TehMac
Who cares? The daughter is a wise and beautiful woman.

Hey look, someone taught John McCain how to use the intertubes.