[benjulmag]

Because of the staggering legal expense to bring a lawsuit and see it through -- a proposition at the end of the day after all appeals have been exhausted easily well into six-figures and likely reaching seven figures -- unless and until slabbed altered cards stop holding their value, who will have the financial motivation to bring such an action? PSA would regard such a lawsuit as an existential threat given its contingent liabilities IMO materially exceed its net worth and the case would probably drag on for years. And even if someone brought such an action as a matter of principal, if PSA acted rationally they would quietly make good on the guaranty, resell the cards on the open market and then return to business as normal.

To me this means that in order for anything constructive to happen from the civil perspective, either a new TPG grading company as I described earlier in this thread needs to enter the fray, or the whining not only needs to continue but needs to escalate. Maybe then in time the press will begin to cover this other side of the hobby, and if so maybe enough trepidation will begin to set in among individuals and funds about whether slabbed cards will hold their value. Then maybe the demand for such cards will begin to fall, and the market forces necessary for such a lawsuit to be rationally and successfully brought will come into play.

A lot of maybes, I agree, but to quote Peter, "maybe it's just tilting at windmills and won't end up doing any good at all but it feels to me better than the alternative of just saying eff it."