After watching DYI's broadcast last week on Jay Leno's Duesenberg restoration Does anyone know what happened to the lawsuit that was filed about it? That was the car he bought from a New York parking garage. Since he restored it I would guess it was resolved but never heard what happened.
So far as has been reported, it appears to still be a pending case. The co-defendent, Dennis Rikka, committed suicide three days after the suit was filed.
Real stinky New York City kinda stuff in acquiring this Duesenberg. See below http://www.luxist.com/tag/dusenberg/
sounds to me that If the dussey owners had paid their back parking bill of over $40000 this would not be a problem,at least the car has a good caretaker now
Yeah, if the owner had died and the car went to one of the kids or grand kids who knows what might have happened to the car. At least it went to Leno who can afford to keep and restore a car like that.
1.7 million!!!!????? In who's world?! It was in a sad state of disrepair and is not one of the more desired body types. (luxury roadster?...no, it was a town car) Maybe $100,000, if the buyer was truly motivated. Just another example of someone seeing dollars and bashing a celebrity. Most of the time I don't care about celebrities, but I have met Jay, talked to him a few times and am of opinion he is a truly nice guy.
Not to be a Leno Basher but a pretty qusetionable transaction in my book. see article below Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Talk show host Jay Leno was sued for buying a rare 1931 Duesenberg luxury roadster valued by its owner at $1.7 million through an allegedly ``sham'' auction 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 yesterday 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. The estate alleged that, after Straus rejected Leno's offer to purchase the Duesenberg, the comedian, an antique car buff, entered into a ``sham'' transaction with the garage and other business entities it controls to take ownership of the car. Straus died in May at the age of 88. ``Notwithstanding the hundreds of thousands of dollars paid by Straus to the garage over the years, these vehicles were purportedly auctioned off to satisfy certain relatively trivial parking bills,'' Lubin and the estate said in the complaint. Leno, host of the Tonight Show on the NBC television network, couldn't be immediately reached for comment. Dick Guttman, a Leno spokesman, declined to comment on the lawsuit. Big Dog ``The allegations will be proven in a court of law to be untrue,'' said Bruce Bronster, a lawyer for Leno and the garage. ``Mr. Leno bought the car in good faith after a lien sale for fair market value and only recently heard of these allegations.'' The Duesenberg and Rolls Royce ``were stored in several of my clients' garages,'' Bronster said. ``Over a period of years, the owner became extremely delinquent in the payment of storage fees. Repeated efforts to bring the account current were unavailing, leading to a lien sale to cover the monies due.'' A woman at Burbank, California-based Big Dog who refused to give her name declined to comment immediately. Andrew Solomon, a New York lawyer for Straus's daughter and the estate, insisted John Straus never abandoned either the Duesenberg or the Rolls Royce at the garage. He said Straus attempted to pay the bills and that the garage rejected payments and wrongfully seized the cars. `Precious Family Heirloom' ``Leno knew that our client didn't want to sell the car and that it was in the garage where he'd had it for more than 50 years,'' Solomon said in a telephone interview. ``Mr. Leno's a wealthy man and one of the foremost experts on this car. My client would never have sold the car and never let it go for not paying his bills. This car was a precious family heirloom.'' The complaint included claims of unjust enrichment and ``conversion'' for the alleged wrongful taking of the car. The plaintiffs seek damages of more than $1.7 million and return of the Duesenberg. According to the Christie's International Web site, an engine for a model J sold for more than $82,000. The Christie's site called it ``a massive powerhouse of engineering excellence'' in its auction catalog description. The Duesenberg Model J from 1929 ``was more than just a luxury car, as Duesenberg intended it to be a sporting drive for keen drivers,'' according to the Top Classic Cars Web site, http://www.topclassiccars.com. ``The engine was mighty, being a straight-eight cylinder with twin overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder.'' The plaintiffs alleged Straus's Duesenberg was extremely rare, describing it as the ``last known, original condition family owned Model J Duesenberg in existence.'' Only 470 Model Js were made from 1928 to 1937 by the company founded by two German brothers, the estate said. 7,085 Miles Straus's car, which only had 7,085 miles, was bought from the factory by Straus's father, Herbert Straus, in 1931. Straus later purchased it from his mother, the estate said. According to the complaint, the Manhattan parking garage arranged ``sham auctions'' knowing ``Straus was incapable of protecting his rights due to his deterioration from dementia.'' In 2005, the garage claimed Straus failed to pay more than $22,000 in parking bills for the Duesenberg and Rolls Royce, the estate said in the complaint. The garage allegedly sent Straus conflicting bills for the storage of cars he kept at another facility, called the Wayne Garage, about 10 blocks away, according to the court filing. Straus kept other classic cars at that garage, according to the suit. Alleged `Ruse' In an alleged ``ruse'' to confuse Straus, Windsor Garage eventually claimed he never paid for the storage while sending him bills for the Wayne Garage cars and refusing his checks to pay the Windsor garage bills, the plaintiffs said. The garage never made any attempt to contact Straus or any members of his family, the estate alleged in the filing. Windsor Garage eventually seized the Duesenberg and Rolls Royce and conducted a ``lien auction'' in April 2005, which the estate called an ``unlawful private sale'' to ``certain eager purchasers waiting in the wings, such as Leno,'' the estate alleged in its complaint. A company called Chapman LLC purchased the Duesenberg and the Rolls Royce the next month, although the garage continued to bill Straus for storage until December of that year, the estate said. Chapman sold the Duesenberg to Leno and his production company, the estate said. Windsor Garage and its owners pocketed $140,000, while Straus's parking account, which the garage claimed was in arrears, was credited $39,709 as a result of the sale, according to the complaint. 2007 Book 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.'' The alleged ruse was meant to dissuade other buyers or spur lower bids at the auction, according to the complaint. On his Web site, called ``Jaylenosgarage,'' the comedian described having several Duesenbergs in his car collection. A woman who refused to identify herself answered the number for Chapman by saying ``Garage Management Company LLC,'' an entity that is also named as a defendant in the suit. She declined to comment. NBC is owned by General Electric Co. The case is Wendy Lubin v. Big Dog Productions, 602965/2008, New York State Supreme Court (Manhattan). To contact the reporter on this story: Patricia Hurtado in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan at [email protected].
sounds like that story was written be the strauss family lawyers.......if you or I got behind that far on storage of a car it would be sold off also............
funny... they say they didn't notify the family... that is the first part of a lein sale. notify the owner to pay up or else.
"My client would never have sold the car and never let it go for not paying his bills. This car was a precious family heirloom.'' A precious family heirloom in storage for 50 years? If it was so near and dear to your hearts, here is an idea be a responsible adult and keep track of it. Go get the car(s), hire a transport company, get one of your many attorneys (likely an entire law firm on retainer) to pay the bill and take possession of "the precious family heirloom". What the hell was the family paying estate attorneys for if not for securing assets? If he truly had dementia and the inability to understand/pay "trivial parking bills" into the tens of thousands, who the hell was his power of attorney and why didn't they handle it (that is what they are paid for), hell a law clerk/intern could have handled it. Either the Straus family could fit their collective brains in a thimble and still have room for the cork..... or more likely they are just bent out of shape that "Daddy", all their attorneys, all their money screwed up and didn't handle his affairs. Another one of those families that is all hat and no cattle!
I don't think Leno would have restored it if there was still a cloud over the transaction. But I haven't heard of a resolution. I keep calling Jay but he's not picking up. Damit, inquiring minds want to know.
You are absolutly right. (At least in Texas) You have to make contact w/the owner. Then the car can only be "auctioned off" for the charges due. Anything over the amount due the money has to go back to the owner. Very interesting story, but you know Leno has his bases covered.
It sounds like the guy didn't take care of his affairs, they sold it at a lein auction, and now the family is pissed and wants it back, what tells me the family is in it for the money,is they not only want the car back, but 1.7 million on top of it for "damages" what damages? it was in a garage for 50 years, it gets sold, where did the 1.7 mill come in? Sounds like they heard Leno bought it and they saw dollar signs.
even with the money jay leno has he would have been a fool to purchase the vehicle without proper papers. the guy loves cars and is way too high profile to do something that reckless for any vehicle.
If they were sending the guy bills, doesn't that account for contacting the guy? Whoever was handling his affairs at that point dropped the ball.
If the old guy had dimentia then who was running his affairs? You would think a family member so the person not paying the bills is probably the one sueing.
If it was being sold at a lein auction by an established business, I'm sure they had papers, if this company is handling cars like this, and the other one sold, I'm sure it's not some fly by night company, I mean it was parked with this company for 50 years. If you tried to buy a car you wanted and the owner wouldn't sell, then you saw it being sold at a lien auction, wouldn't you buy it? It's not like the paper is full of Duezzys for sale every day.
don't know why jay bothered restoring the car he is going to lose it to pull a lien , you have to have a public auction
actually you just have to advertise it's for sale in the papers. if only one person shows up then thats the person who is probably going to take it home. for what it sold for, I'm sure there weren't a lot of people that interested. especially in this economy.
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