Trial Update: Thursday’s Witnesses
Posted: November 7, 2008 Filed under: General 4 Comments »Allyson Bird at the Charleston Post and Courier continues with her reporting:
A&E’s New York-based attorney Jeremy Feigelson worked to disprove Davis’ claim that his Trademark Properties and the network verbally agreed to a 50-50 profit split from the reality series “Flip This House.”
“The agreement we’re talking about is an agreement in your mind?” Feigelson asked.
Davis calmly replied that it was “absolutely an agreement” he had with an A&E representative. Finally, after more than 10 hours of testimony spread over three days, he lost his patience.
Responding to one question, David raised his voice and said, “It’s my possession. You stole it. … You stole my possession.”
…
While on the stand Davis made several jurors chuckle as he shared his inexperience with the legal system.
“This is the first time I’ve sued. I don’t know how this works,” he said. “This is the last time. This is miserable.”
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Cisa called his second and final witness, Trademark Properties Inc. investment coordinator Ginger Alexander, who was often featured on “Flip This House.”
She testified that the firm’s normal business took longer because of the series and that, overall, the company lost money creating episodes of the show because it still holds a few unsold properties.
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Feigelson asked if the lack of demand for the unsold properties could be attributed to a downturn in the real estate market and not “Flip This House.”
Alexander said the market spoiled one sale, but she blamed the show for hindering the sale of a home originally listed at $1.8 million.
She said a rodent infestation at the home when Trademark Properties acquired it was exploited during the post-production process, even though the problem had been fixed.
“It’s hard to sell a house after you show a bunch of rats running around,” she said.
This is fascinating. Thanks for all the updates. We did the Post Audio work for “The Real Deal,” later re-titled Property Kings..or something like that, for TLC. After being involved in a Richard C. Davis production, this case is interesting to watch. Thanks again!
The rats running around must be occupying the corporate offices of A&E!
And at last, the hardly surprising truth comes out. Trademark was operating at a loss on multiple of the houses featured and still hasn’t sold many of them.
This show was a fraud from day one. Nothing more than an infomercial and trademark nothing more than a slightly higher-class Montelongo. Not one damned cast of this show has been real homebuilders nor made money from true real estate development. All were nothing more than con artists looking for a vehicle, which A&E gave them.
Based on all the trial coverage I have seen (which is limited), I think Davis is going to lose and lose decisively. Anyone who has ever worked in TV production (especially reality tv) can see clearly that he never had a prayer at the deal he is claiming. That’s not to say that he didn’t *think* he did, as he seems like the type to hear only what he wants to in certain contexts, and tv producers are notorious liars (though never stupid enough to commit the lies to paper) but his map isn’t the territory as evidenced by all the testimony and evidence.
A few other interesting things that people should take note of :
– Trademark didn’t sell somewhere around 1/2, possibly more, of the homes featured in the show.
– The show was clearly created for purposes of ego and getting a free infomercial.
– Every cast of this show has now been shown to have been misrepresenting what they did/didn’t sell and did/didn’t earn on transactions.
– The Trademark national rollout, which was never defined, never happened and isn’t going to that I can see. Despite what they say, it was an attempt to franchise and failed.
– The Real Estate Pros, which was so poorly developed that it had to change it’s name after the first episode – clearly shows that Trademark’s production endeavors were not setup in a professional or well-considered manner. That show was canceled after a short run.
The opera isn’t over ’til the fat lady sings, but I’d say she’s just about to take the stage on this case. (and Trademark)