[Lordstan]

For the record, I am not a lawyer.

As far as financial responsibility, to me, it seems that the TPA should only be liable for the auction price if the AH cannot get the money back from the consignor. Even then, it seems that the AH should be liable to refund the purchasing party. They could then possibly sue the TPA for restitution as they could attempt to prove that they accepted the item for sale only based on the opinion of the TPA. Had the TPA not approved it, they would have not sold it and therefore would not have a loss.

IMO, AH and TPAs should be liable for criminal charges only if you could prove they knew the item was fake and either certed the item and/or sold the item with the intent to defraud the buyer.

Again, this is a non lawyer's perspective and understanding. I wonder if someone with real legal knowledge could tell me if I am correct or not.

Another thought: Officially, TPAs only provide opinions, so legally it seems they would be liable for the value of that opinion. I guess what I don't know is if their advertising stating that their opinions helps to improve prices and values of item could somehow make them have additional financial responsibility because they claim it does. Not sure.