What started out as a simple eBay bid for a Memphis house once owned by Elvis Presley has turned into a fight for possession of the King's former home.
The Nashville Tennessean reports that after psychic Uri Geller and his partners placed the winning bid of $905,100 for the home on eBay, they found it had been sold to the American music promoter Mike Curb for $1 million.
Uri Geller already told news papers that he will sue Mike and Cindy Freeman-Hazen, but he may loose that battle as eBay indicated that a purchase of a house via internet is “not a legal binding contract”. Claiming the rejection of their bid was unfair, one of Geller's partners, Peter Gleason, responded by initiating an inquest into a recent bankruptcy case of the home's owners, Cindy Hazen and Mike Freeman.
The recently divorced couple had cleared up $43,000 in debt through the case, in which they claimed the value of the home to be only $236,000, the Tennessean reports.
A bankruptcy trustee then opened the case to determine whether profits from the sale of the home should be seized to pay the couple's creditors, a move that could bring the court to reverse all the sellers' actions.
"I think it says a lot about Uri Geller and Peter Gleason that they want to dwell on the pain we've been through in the past year," Hazen told the Tennessean.
Elvis House Causes Conflict
June 08, 2006 | Other Source:VariousSean Ryan wrote on
June 08, 2006
The owners of the house should be taken to court.It should never have gone on Ebay if they never intended to sell it through the online company.
I am Buffalo-Horn! wrote on
June 08, 2006
Let's be fair now. Everyone wants to get the best possible price for their house!
Teacher wrote on
June 09, 2006
According to the Commercial Appeal:
The boxing gloves are off in the battle for the home where Elvis Presley lived when he first became a rock icon.
Next stop? Federal bankruptcy court.
The home at 1034 Audubon appeared to have been sold at auction on eBay for $905,100 last month to Israeli-born celebrity psychic Uri Geller and two partners. But, when they were unable to work out contract terms with Memphis owners Cindy Hazen and Mike Freeman, the house was sold for $1 million to Nashville record producer Mike Curb.
Geller and one partner, New York attorney Peter Gleason, cried foul, claiming their high bid was unfairly rejected only because a higher offer came along. Hazen said the bid was discarded after Gleason made contractual changes in the closing papers, then could not be reached for two weeks while they tried to close the sale. "At the end of two weeks we did not have an agreement. It made me question their commitment or ability to follow through with the sale. This is not a decision we made lightly," says Hazen.
When the sale to Curb closed Friday, Gleason responded by reopening an old wound for Hazen and Freeman. He hired a Memphis attorney to see that a closed bankruptcy case involving Hazen and Freeman would be reopened. The couple, who recently divorced, had filed for bankruptcy in September 2005, and the case was discharged in February 2006, excusing them of about $43,000 in debt. In the petition, they listed the value of their home at its appraised value of about $236,000.
The bankruptcy trustee, Barbara R. Loevy, filed a motion this week to reopen the case. In it, she said, "The debtors had the unique knowledge of the true nature and value of the property and withheld this information from the Trustee."
Geller and Gleason's Memphis attorney, Douglas Alrutz, said Gleason's role in stirring the legal pot was not an act of vengeance. "It's doing the right thing for their (Hazen's and Freeman's) creditors," Alrutz said.
Hazen, however, said, "I think it says a lot about Uri Geller and Peter Gleason that they want to dwell on the pain we've been through in the past year."
She said she made no effort in bankruptcy court to conceal or downplay the potential value of the Audubon property. "There were eight owners between Elvis and us, and the house had never before sold for more than market value. There was no way for us to know what somebody would bid."
Her attorney, Bruce Ralston, said, "Nobody in the world could have predicted this," meaning a heated bidding battle on eBay and a final sale price of $1 million.
The bankruptcy case now is set for a hearing at 9:30 a.m. June 26 to determine whether the case should be reopened and assets from the sale of the home attached to pay off creditors previously denied assets.
Meanwhile, Geller and Gleason have vowed to legally overturn the rejection of their bid and sale of the house to Curb. "If I have to, I will take this to the Supreme Court; If I have to I'll take this to the Pope," Geller said Monday.
vinny wrote on
June 11, 2006
poor URI, i bet he didn't see that coming.. he's probably bending some spoons now! cant help but giggle,