eBay People's Court case 03/15/05
The case involved a buyer (Plantiff) who had purchased what was proported to be a World War II German helmet. The buyer is a WWII collector and claimed it was not a German helmet, but was a modified Spanish helmet. Aparently Spanish helmets are worth about 25 cents, but the buyer paid around $325 for it.
The Plantiff said it had too many rivets to be German and contained dimples where a Spanish ensignia would have been placed. He also brought in what he claimed was a genuine German helmet.
The Defendant's response to the buyer's lawsuit: "Moron".
The Defendant claimed her father (who was her witness) had bought it for a friend of the family off eBay, but the friend then didn't have the money to pay for it, so she put it on eBay for her father. She had listed that the headliner appeared to be newer and that the helmet appeared to be authentic (or something to that effect).
The Judge's decision:
The judge made several calls including to the Holocaust museum and to Sotherby's who referred her to someone who admitted he was not an expert and whom the Plantiff had consulted a few weeks before the case. He did not think it was genuine.
The judge (who said she found out more about German helmets than she ever wanted to know) pointed out three things in her ruling. One is that the emblem on the side of the helmet appeared a lot newer than the genuine helmet the Plantiff brought in. Second was that the rivets appeared buffed down and she said there is a whole industry to try and make Spanish helmets appear as genuine German helmets. The third and most damning piece of evidence was the dimples which no authority says are supposed to be on a German helmet.
Judgement for the plantiff. The helmet went back to the defendant. The judge threatened the seller not to resell it as a German helmet because "I will find you". Also, legal consultant Harvey Levin said too that now that she knows it's not genuine, it would be fraud.
When asked what they would do with the helmet, the answer was give it back to her father's buddy.
Now here's an idea: eBay auction "People's Court World War II helmet" I mean, how many helmets have ever been at the center of a People's Court dispute?
The Plantiff said it had too many rivets to be German and contained dimples where a Spanish ensignia would have been placed. He also brought in what he claimed was a genuine German helmet.
The Defendant's response to the buyer's lawsuit: "Moron".
The Defendant claimed her father (who was her witness) had bought it for a friend of the family off eBay, but the friend then didn't have the money to pay for it, so she put it on eBay for her father. She had listed that the headliner appeared to be newer and that the helmet appeared to be authentic (or something to that effect).
The Judge's decision:
The judge made several calls including to the Holocaust museum and to Sotherby's who referred her to someone who admitted he was not an expert and whom the Plantiff had consulted a few weeks before the case. He did not think it was genuine.
The judge (who said she found out more about German helmets than she ever wanted to know) pointed out three things in her ruling. One is that the emblem on the side of the helmet appeared a lot newer than the genuine helmet the Plantiff brought in. Second was that the rivets appeared buffed down and she said there is a whole industry to try and make Spanish helmets appear as genuine German helmets. The third and most damning piece of evidence was the dimples which no authority says are supposed to be on a German helmet.
Judgement for the plantiff. The helmet went back to the defendant. The judge threatened the seller not to resell it as a German helmet because "I will find you". Also, legal consultant Harvey Levin said too that now that she knows it's not genuine, it would be fraud.
When asked what they would do with the helmet, the answer was give it back to her father's buddy.
Now here's an idea: eBay auction "People's Court World War II helmet" I mean, how many helmets have ever been at the center of a People's Court dispute?
posted by Chatbots AI at 8:37 PM
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