A Friend of Unfair Park sends along word that, yet again, Unfair Park cross-the-street neighbor Heritage Auction Gallery has found itself on the wrong end of whoops. Two months after it was revealed that the auction house accidentally unloaded some $30,000 worth of phony dead-celeb trinkets, Christopher Kortlander -- owner of the town of Garryowen, Montana, site of The Battle of the Little Bighorn -- has filed suit against Heritage, claiming that he didn't get the proper amount due him when Heritage offloaded the town and the Elizabeth Bacon Custer Archive earlier this year.
In his complaint, which was filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Montana and which can be read in its entirety here, Kortlander claims Heritage mishandled the auction and breaches several contracts. He claims the company failed to account for the items it sold and didn't sell at auction, broke an agreement concerning a $500,000 line of credit offered him pre-auction and otherwise "failed to satisfy its contractual obligations and its requirements as the agent of the Plaintiff." Says Kortlander, he wants all his stuff back ... now. When contacted by Unfair Park moments ago, Heritage officials said they hadn't seen the complaint, so we forwarded it to them. A response from the auction gallery is forthcoming. --Robert Wilonsky
Update: Friday evening, we received this response from Steve Ivy, CEO of Heritage Auction Galleries: "Mr. Kortlander breached his agreement with us by failing to deliver to Dallas in a timely manner, as promised and agreed, the Custer Archives, which is a crucial component of the property. Now he is apparently attempting to avoid his obligation by falsely claiming that Heritage, rather than he himself, violated the agreement. Despite the many difficulties involved in selling Mr. Kortlander's various properties, Heritage has worked diligently to resolve this situation within the parameters of its current agreement with Mr. Kortlander."
