lionshare is the name of her fathers business, the family yacht etc
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In 2006, Tom Selleck sued the seller, trainers and vet of a jumper-turned- hunter he bought for his daughter, a very accomplished rider. The horse went seriously lame shortly after purchase, and vets at Alamo-Pintado in Santa Ynez, California told them the horse’s show career was over. The complaints in the law suit were “conspiracy to defraud” and “negligent misrepresentation in a sale.”
In 2009, the case finally went to trial. The jury found for the Sellecks, and they were awarded $187,000, which represented the purchase price and board bills. When punitive damages were added in, the Sellecks took home $250,000.
After the trial, one of the Selleck’s attorneys put it this way: “I think there was already a groundswell of people wanting to do something about fraud in horse sales, and the Sellecks have contributed a good example. Defrauded buyers don’t have to just take it, they can fight back. If we, as a horse industry, allow fraudulent sellers to run rampant with impunity, we are allowing them to severely damage our business and sport. Newcomers who get cheated go away, and do not buy any more horses.”
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Can’t help but laugh after binge watching Blue Bloods this past weekend. Don’t mess with Tom Selleck in any capacity
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There was a very long thread in the eventing forum about a 4 star professional from Texas. Different unfortunate issues… But the same point was made… Essentially, “Why doesn’t USEA revoke this person’s status as a member in good standing?” There was lots of informative discussion on this point… Bottom line, these organization’s primary mission is to facilitate organized competition. Enforcement of any sort of code of conduct or legal standard is far trickier than it appears on the surface. And requires staff these organizations don’t really have. Additionally… Legally, everyone is innocent until proven guilty. And even when guilty, plenty of cases end with a plea deal for a lesser offense.
Given that this particular situation is currently only a civil suit… There’s a pretty good chance both parties negotiate a settlement with the stipulation no one admits wrongdoing, even if they pay a substantial amount of cash to settle. If that’s how it ends… I don’t see USEF or USDF having grounds to sanction anyone.
Don’t get me wrong… I totally understand the feeling that people who have engaged in wrongdoing that damages the industry shouldn’t be members in good standing of any of the governing bodies… But this is a challenging thing to address and enforce when it comes to real life scenarios.
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As someone who handled protests and the like for a major equine organization, I can tell you that the rules allow for very limited action. Most have rules that allow for disciplinary action in cases where a member is found guilty of a criminal offense, not something in civil court. They are also restricted in many instances to events that occur on show grounds, as that is where their jurisdiction is.
Frustrating for many, but keeps the association from setting outside of their bounds and opening themselves up to a lawsuit.
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@bugsynskeeter - makes total sense. I think the issue of jurisdiction came up in the other thread too - and how problematic offenses would have to have occurred on the show grounds of a recognized competition for a governing body to have jurisdiction.
If the allegations set forth in the lawsuit are true, in my opinion the best way to purge the industry of this sort of thing is for victims of scams to speak up, and file suits when the facts merit it - like the Sellecks did.
If this turns out to be a true situation, one can only hope that other owners/sellers/buyers will vote with their feet. That will be more impactful in the end.
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I think the critical thing is whether Tarjan had a contract with Roffman to act as Tarjan’s agent and in her interest. If so, Roffman should get hung out to dry.
If Roffman was just a random buyer who bought a horse for $300k and then found a buyer for $900k, there would be really nothing for AT to do but shrug and say “dang, I wish I had those connections”.
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and that more buyers of high $$ horses will insist on a “closing” like what people do in real estate.
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I wish this kind of behavior would go the same direction as the Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment situation. I know it’s harsh, but once you’re accused of double dipping commissions, or selling a inferior horse, you’re dead, a pariah in the industry until proven innocent. The only way this is going to change is we have to help each other. Stop with the “buyer beware” bull$hit, and call a spade a spade. As someone who has been ripped off on both a horse and the commissions paid, everyone involved was looking the other way, and stayed silent.
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which is why I would like the federation to take action on proven cases to weed the trash out of the sport. At least this version of trash.
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But at what point is it proven?
These are all accusations, we’ve only heard from one side, and no one has yet had their day in court.
Complete speculation, but very probably this will never go to court, never have a decision from a judge and/or a jury. They will settle out of court, because that will most likely be in everyone’s best interests. A trial would just funnel even more funds to the lawyers and away from the parties on both sides.
It all comes back to the same thing - buyers and sellers are accountable to themselves to proceed in a business-like manner and protect themselves. If everything is done in a proper way and there is still outright fraud, having done it properly should help them assemble definite evidence to proceed legally.
Possibly the contract and the Purchase/Sale Agreement are what is allowing Ms. Tarjan to proceed in this situation. Those documents were clear, and she must believe that the transaction can be shown not to have occurred as agreed in writing.
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I wonder what the $900k buyer was told about who she was buying from, and how much commission was being paid?
An Agent/Trainer I sued for horse sale fraud previously had a horse sale fraud lawsuit in West Palm Beach County where she settled out of court with a confidential settlement. I found out about this 6 mo after I made my purchase. These cases with online court records do not show up in a google search so despite my attempt to research, it did not help me. But a Rate My Horse Pro story DOES show, so I encourage all involved in disputes to send them the info to publish.
Same trainer/agent has gotten several Dressage Foundation grants and USEF grants.
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Per Palm Beach County court records, CR’s lawyer has filed to obtain a laundry list of documents and has filed a list of interrogatories that the seller must respond to. Guess this is moving forward. What is interesting is that they ask for detailed information on Fabrege (purchase, sale, show record, health record, etc) AND information on other horses that AT has bought or sold in the last 7 years.
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Thanks for the update.
Update…
CR says it wasn’t her, it was Lionshare.
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So CR has no moral responsibility for Lionshare lying about the sale price and the buyers identity? Or CR doesn’t care because her assets are protected? If Lionshare received 600K profit from the sale, wouldn’t that be an asset or would it have been laundered long ago?
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Isn’t CR basically the leading owner/operator of Lionshare?
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I think so, but one line in the article about Roffman’s response seems to indicate they are hoping that the courts won’t “pierce the veil” and thereby make her personally liable for what her corporation does.
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