LENO gets sued!!

interesting article in the NYDN

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2008/10/15/2008-10-15_talk_show_host_jay_leno_gets_sued_over_o.html

 

While I have no idea about the truth in any of this, if he did in fact get a $1.5MM for $180K, something sketchy was definitely going on.

 

why did the garage refuse payment? Had the vehicle become abandoned property, and thus ownership transfered to the garage?

Seems odd that the car "meant a lot to the family", yet sat in a garage for 50 years.

 

I watched a show about the car and how he got it and restored it.

He did trick other potential buyers with the "too small elevator" story. This was revealed on the show. The car needed a complete restoration. While $180K might seem a bit low, he spent a fortune on it to get it to it's present state.

 

Remind me not to tell Jay about the 1957 Chevy convertible that is sitting in a 3rd floor storage garage where it's been for 30 years with an inch of dust on it. No joke.

 

If you don't pay your storage fees, your stuff typically goes under the gavel. I don't know if there's a right of redemption with storage fees, though. Short version: pay your storage fees!

RMX

 

Aren't they still making them?

It seems like every year at "Back to the 50's" there are more "tri-fives" than the year before.

 

They're like those 308s that need work. They're a dime a dozen. But just try to find ONE at a decent price!

 

I was gonna say that they're like red 308s at Concorso.

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aWODlKgNhSFY

Talk show host Jay Leno was sued by the estate of a former Macy's Inc. executive for buying a rare 1931 Duesenberg allegedly worth $1.7 million from a garage where the plaintiff kept it.

Leno paid $180,000 to the Manhattan garage, which allegedly claimed the now-deceased owner failed to pay his storage 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, according to the complaint.

The estate alleged that, after Straus rejected Leno's attempt to purchase the Duesenberg, the comedian, an antique car buff, entered into a ``sham'' transaction with the garage 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. Helga Pollock, his spokeswoman, didn't return calls seeking comment.

Big Dog

A woman at Burbank, California-based Big Dog who refused to give her name declined to immediately comment. Calls to Windsor Garage weren't returned. Andrew Solomon, a New York lawyer for Straus's daughter and estate, didn't return a call seeking comment.

The complaint included claims of unjust enrichment and ``conversion'' for the alleged wrongful taking of the Duesenberg. The plaintiffs seek damages of at least $1.7 million and return of the vehicle.

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 ``last known, original condition family owned Model J Duesenberg in existence.'' Only 470 Model Js were made between 1928 and 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 ``when 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 cars, the estate said in the complaint. The garage allegedly sent Straus conflicting bills for the storage of the Duesenberg and cars he kept at another facility which they also owned, called the Wayne Garage, about 10 blocks away, according to the court filing.

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 and refusing his checks to pay the Windsor garage bills, the plaintiffs said.

No Attempt

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 account was credited $39,709 as a result of the sale, according to the complaint.

According to the estate's filing, in a 2007 book titled ``The Hemi in the Barn,'' written by author 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.

Made-Up Story

``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).

 

Sorry, just saw it here too
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=218068


Paul

 

you know cliff notes wouldnt hurt ?

 

Leno is an awasome guy, but now I feel really sorry for hi, where ever this guy goes people just ask the same thing

"jay what do you think'

jay I have a $2,000,000 car for sale

jay what about that lawsuit

jay

jay

jay

jay

*wonders when when he will say people STFU*

 

Don't worry about Jay, he's a big boy and can take care of himself.

 

Well, there was a so-called "barn find" Bugatti 57C or SC that recently went to auction unrestored and the estimates were 350K to 500K. It eventually was bid up to about $750,000 not counting the auction fee or taxes. So you could restore it at a really minimal cost and still be upside down at 1 million.

 

TRAGEDY IN 'LENO' CASE
EXEC IN SUIT OVER VINTAGE-CAR DEAL IS FOUND SHOT DEAD


By MURRAY WEISS, DAREH GREGORIAN and PERRY CHIARAMONTE


Last updated: 10:41 am
October 23, 2008
Posted: 4:17 am
October 23, 2008

A Manhattan parking-garage exec killed himself just days after he and "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno were sued for allegedly swindling an elderly Macy's heir out of two pricey cars, The Post has learned.

Dennis Ricca, 55, shot himself in the head with his registered 9 mm pistol last Friday while sitting in a pickup truck outside his Greenwood Lake retreat in upstate Orange County, a law-enforcement source said.

The tragedy came a day after The Post and other media reported the Oct. 14 suit by the family of late Macy's heir John Straus.

"That did it to him," a mourner said yesterday at Ricca's wake, referring to the suit and the publicity it generated.

The Manhattan Supreme Court filing claims that Ricca, top execs at Garage Management Corp. and their affiliates - along with Leno - "knowingly participated in certain unlawful purported auctions and sales of" Straus' two cars.

Leno ended up with one of the rare vehicles - an ultra-rare 1931 Duesenberg Model J valued at $1.2 million.

The other, a 1930 Rolls-Royce Phantom convertible valued at $500,000, somehow ended up in Ricca's possession.

Bruce Bronster, a lawyer for both the garage companies and Leno, said, "We hope the press will respect his family and let them grieve in peace."

Richard Chapman, a Garage Management Corp. officer, yesterday told a reporter, "I'm not going to say anything to you."

A man at the Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ, home of another GMC honcho named in the suit, Gordon Hamm, slammed a door in the face of a reporter last night.

Ricca was GMC's director of maintenance. His neighbors near the town of Warwick said Ricca - who was married with at least three daughters and a son - appeared depressed in recent months. "He seemed stressed out from work," said Bob Hadley, a neighbor.

On Friday morning, Ricca drove alone to the country home where he chatted with another neighbor, said a law-enforcement source.

That neighbor later told Hadley he had asked Ricca about the suit. The garage exec replied, "I could care less."

"[Ricca] said he did everything on the up and up and that he even had the same lawyer as Jay Leno, so he wasn't worried," Hadley recalled.

But the other neighbor also told Hadley he could see there was something wrong with Ricca as he walked around his property and tinkered, Hadley said.

"We knew something was wrong. We should have done something," Hadley quoted the neighbor as saying.

In the early afternoon, Ricca lit a fire in his fireplace, then went outside and climbed into the front seat of his pickup truck, the other neighbor later told Hadley.

Hadley woke from a nap at around 1 p.m. "I looked out my window, and saw [Ricca] in his car. I didn't think anything of it. I figured maybe his cellphone died or something," Hadley said.

About 1:30 p.m., another neighbor heard a gunshot coming from Ricca's property. The neighbor discovered Ricca's body slumped in his car, with a pistol near him.

No suicide note was found, sources said.

Ricca also had a vacation home in Florida in addition to his primary residence in Franklin Square, LI.

Ricca's relatives and friends flocked to the Stutzman & Sons Funeral Home in New Hyde Park, LI, on Tuesday and yesterday for his closed-casket wake.

Straus for decades had kept his Duesenberg and Rolls at Windsor Garage. In 2005, the garage notified Straus that his account was massively in arrears and that the cars would be auctioned off if he didn't pay the more than $20,000 he owed.

Straus - who was in his 80s and suffering from dementia - sent a check. But the garage allegedly did a bait-and-switch and applied the payments to arrears he owed for two far less valuable cars he was keeping in another facility owned by GMC.

The garage then purportedly held sham "public" auctions for the cars, with its corporate alter ego getting the Duesenberg for a $0 bid and the Rolls for an unknown amount, the suit says.

In December 2005, the company sold the Duesenberg to Leno - who'd been lusting after it for years - for $180,000.

A lawyer for Leno and the garage said the garage was entitled to sell the cars because Straus had become "extremely delinquent in the payment of storage fees."

 

Suicide? Does Jay know a couple of wise guys? Someone mentioned this law suit to me on the weekend so this is an interesting/unfortunate turn of events.

"NEW YORK (AP) — A parking garage executive sued along with "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno over their purchases of valuable vintage cars apparently has killed himself in upstate New York.

Police in Warwick said Dennis Ricca died Oct. 17 of a single gunshot wound to the head. The 55-year-old was found behind the wheel of his pickup truck in the driveway of his summer home in Greenwood Lake, about 50 miles northwest of Manhattan. A 9 mm handgun was by his side."

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jFp7sRDEGxAtjvMfy3PqnUXQLKmQD940E5UO0

Driveway? Last time I checked it might make more sense to be in your garage or inside with the door closed before shooting yourself. RIP to the guy.

 

It looks like someone really wanted to bury this thread.......

 

I even sense a conspiracy within this forum

 

Police in Warwick said Dennis Ricca died Oct. 17 of a single gunshot wound to the head. The 55-year-old was found behind the wheel of his pickup truck in the driveway of his summer home in Greenwood Lake, about 50 miles northwest of Manhattan. A 9 mm handgun was by his side."

NJ Mob hit plain and simple. When I lived in Mountain Lakes NJ in the 80's there were several guys in the neighborhood that commited suicide in their driveway with a gunshot to the head. My brother in law who was an EMT said that police thought they were mob hits but the local papers claimed suicide as not to affect high end real estate values. A lot of these guys owned diners for some reason.

 

And, who would benefit from this guy being "silenced" as this pesky law suit lingers?

 

< waits for the Smitty rimshot >

 

fascinating!

I remember Jay talking about this Duesenberg for quite a few years. I remember that he also said he found the owner who was unwilling to sell it. I also later remember the "elevator" story. Very interesting indeed.