As I’ve pointed out in a few prior blogs, attorneys often don’t agree. One attorney states some auction-related law, rule, or the like with enthusiasm and claims it is the truth. For every one of those, I can likely find (and I have found) an attorney with the opposite view.
It’s not surprising. There are two distinguished attorneys who serve as faculty at Hondros College where I serve as faculty as well. Even though they both teach the same exact curriculum — they disagree on some legal issues.
Look at the Supreme Court of the United States with arguably the most learned nine attorneys in the United States. Do they always agree? Not hardly. In fact, in most split-decisions, one Justice writes for the majority and one Justice writes for the dissent — with sometimes completely different understandings of the case before them.
I’ve seen numerous references to the Supreme Court of the United States not being able to create “federal common law” and I’ve seen nearly as many references that they can create “federal common law” — for example.
Many of us fondly remember J. Stephen Proffitt III (Steve Proffitt) and his musings on auction law topics and yet we now have other attorneys countering his thoughts — again it’s all good, attorneys often don’t agree.
I’ve sat with dozens of attorneys all across the United States who — even while on the same team — didn’t agree with each other about an auction law or related. Certainly too, I’ve seen opposite sides of cases enthusiastically disagree in regard to any number of auction issues.
Kurt Bachman is a highly skilled auction law attorney and there are attorneys who disagree with him. As an auctioneer, I find Kurt’s writings almost always spot-on … but again it’s all good, attorneys often don’t agree.
Is there a lesson for auctioneers here? Indeed. No matter what one specific attorney tells you, it doesn’t hurt to ask around to get some other opinions. And yes, what you already have might just be an opinion of an [auction] law.
Mike Brandly, Auctioneer, CAI, CAS, AARE has been an auctioneer and certified appraiser for over 30 years. His company’s auctions are located at: Mike Brandly, Auctioneer, RES Auction Services and Goodwill Columbus Car Auction. He serves as Distinguished Faculty at Hondros College, Executive Director of The Ohio Auction School, an Instructor at the National Auctioneers Association’s Designation Academy and America’s Auction Academy. He is faculty at the Certified Auctioneers Institute held at Indiana University and is approved by the The Supreme Court of Ohio for attorney education.
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