Date: Fri 10-Sep-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: GWARD

Quick Words:

Pettigrew/Mello-Easton-Belter

Full Text:

$915,000 Judgment Against Defendants In Stolen Belter Auction

By Rita Easton

FRESNO, CALIF. -- Yet another chapter was written this July in the

Pettigrew/Mello case involving stolen Belter furniture belonging to James

Mello, with 26 pieces of it selling at Pettigrew Auction Company.

The United States District Court, Eastern District of California, in Fresno,

Calif., after a juried trial on June 22, arrived at the verdict that the five

defendants, the Pettigrew Auction Company of Colorado, Larry L. Kemper, Gary

D. Lockhart, David Varley, and Jack Alvernaz, are liable for $300,000 actual

value of the 26 pieces, $15,000 for emotional damage, and $600,000 punitive

damages against the five defendants, all to be paid to Gustine collector Jim

Mello. The burden of damages was divided as follows: Alvernaz, 15 percent;

Lockhart, 20 percent; Varley, 15 percent; Kemper, 22 percent; and Pettigrew

Auction Company, 28 percent.

In the early 1970s Mello began collecting the work of the 1800s furniture

craftsman John Henry Belter. The ornately carved pieces were built into a

collection that was unique in the western United States, and one of only six

major collections in the world. Auction prices for Belter pieces generally

range from $25,000 to $90,000 for a single item.

A large part of Mello's collection was stolen from a storage facility in Ripon

in late 1996 or early 1997. David Varley and Jack Alvernaz, two Modesto area

men, paid $27,000 for the pieces, $25,000 in a cashier's check and $2,000 in

cash. They photographed the furniture and Pettigrew attempted to buy it

outright, but this offer was turned down. They then allegedly consigned them

to be sold at a Pettigrew auction for an estimated price of $175,000 to

$275,000.

On learning that the stolen furniture was to be sold at the auction gallery,

Mello and other Belter collectors, as well as the Ripon Police Department,

asked auctioneers Larry Kemper and Gary Lockhart not to sell the 26 pieces.

Kemper and Lockhart refused, and Varley and Alvernaz refused to withdraw the

pieces from the auction.

All the pieces were sold at the auction, bringing a total of less than

$150,000. Collectors of Belter who attended the sale were aware of the shady

background of these lots, resulting in very low bids.

After Mello brought the matter to court, the defense team used the tactic of

calling into question his ownership of the rare furniture. "Their defense was

that Jim Mello had to prove the furniture was his," said attorney Bruce B.

Sousa who represented Mello. "They didn't say that it wasn't, but said that he

had to prove it was his." This was proved to the satisfaction of the jury, as

Mello was able to point out small characteristics such as minor defects or

repairs on the unique, hand-carved pieces.

Other pieces had been purchased for world-record prices in sales that were

documented in newspapers and journals that he was able to produce.

Attorneys for the auctioneers have filed a motion asking that the punitive

damages be reduced, or that a new trial be held on that phase. Sousa says he

does not expect that to happen.