Kobe, mom in court fight over mementos


blackrican23

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CAMDEN, N.J. -- Kobe Bryant is in a court battle to try to keep his mother from auctioning off mementos from his high school days in Pennsylvania and his early years with the Los Angeles Lakers.

A New Jersey auction house filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Camden on Thursday for the right to sell the stuff after the NBA star's lawyers wrote the firm telling it to cancel a planned June auction.

The disagreement is a high-value, high-profile version of a question many families face: Can Mom get rid of the stuff a grown child left at home?

Pamela Bryant intends to sell: the NBA star's jerseys, practice gear and sweatsuits from Lower Merion High School; varsity letters; a trophy for being the outstanding player at the 1995 Adidas ABCD basketball camp; and a signed basketball from the 2000 NBA championship game.

And then there are rings, for the 1996 Pennsylvania high school championship, a pair that the Lakers made for Bryant's parents for the 2000 NBA championship and one from the 1998 NBA All-Star game.

According to court filings, Pamela Bryant struck a deal in January with Goldin Auctions in Berlin, N.J., which earlier this year sold a rare Honus Wagner baseball card for a record $2.1 million.

She got $450,000 up front, which she intended to use for a new home in Nevada.

A source told ESPN that Kobe Bryant offered to pay his mother up $250,000 toward a home she wanted.

She refused, saying she wanted $450,000. When Kobe Bryant turned her down, the source said that unbeknownst to Kobe Bryant she struck a deal to get the $450,000 advanced through the auction company.

The source said Kobe Bryant was unaware that his memorabilia was being auctioned until hours before the auction company released the news of the sale.

In its court filings, Goldin says Pamela Bryant told the auction house that she asked her son five years ago what he wanted to do with the items that were in her home.

"Kobe Bryant indicated to Pamela Bryant that the items belonged to her and that he had no interest in them," the auction house's attorneys wrote. So she put them in a $1,500-per-month New Jersey storage unit.

The challenge came Tuesday when Goldin sent a news release announcing the auction. By day's end, Kobe Bryant's lawyer had sent a cease-and-desist letter telling the auction house to call off the sale and return the items to him.

Kenneth Goldin, owner of the auction house, says he can't cancel the auction because he's already advanced $450,000 to Bryant's mother and put money into advertising the auction.

Kobe Bryant's lawyer Mark Campbell said in a statement, "Mr. Bryant's personal property has ended up in the possession of someone who does not lawfully own it. We look forward to resolving this legal matter through the legal system."

Bryant has had a sometimes icy relationship with his mother and father, Joe "Jellybean" Bryant, a former pro basketball player who is now coaching in Thailand.

 

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/9238503/kobe-bryant-los-angeles-lakers-battles-mom-nj-business-auction

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Kobe Bryant: Mom can't have my stuff

 

CAMDEN, N.J. -- Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant says in a court filing that he never gave his mother permission to sell mementos from his high school days and early professional basketball career.

Bryant is in a court battle over whether hundreds of items can be auctioned off.

Pamela Bryant says her son told her the memorabilia was hers. She arranged earlier this year to auction it off through Berlin, N.J.-based Goldin Auctions and received a $450,000 advance.

Last week, lawyers for Kobe Bryant wrote to the auction house demanding it cease the June sale. Goldin is suing to assert its right to sell.

"I never told my mother that she could have my personal property, let alone consign it for public auction," Bryant wrote.

In a filing Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Camden, Kobe Bryant says his mother acknowledged to him recently that she did not have permission to sell the items.

"I confronted her about her false statement that I had given my memorabilia to her," Bryant wrote in the filing, which was seen by The Philadelphia Inquirer. "I said to her, 'Mom, you know I never told you that you could have the memorabilia.'

"Her response was, 'Yes, but you never said you wanted it, either.' Of course, this is untrue, since my wife and I requested that she return my memorabilia several years earlier."

Bryant was drafted into the NBA directly out of Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, Pa. His high school uniforms are among more than 50 items listed for June auction.

 

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/9257907/kobe-bryant-says-mother-given-permission-sell-stuff

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Why the fuck shouldn't she sell them....he wanted the shit so bad they should have been taken with him instead of being discarded!,

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