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Tom Petty Estate Resolves Legal Dispute Over Auction Items Family Believed Were Stolen – Update

Bruce Haring and Erik Pedersen
·2-min read

UPDATED, 11:20 AM: Tom Petty’s estate has “resolved without litigation” a legal matter with an auction house over the planned sale of memorabilia from the late rock legend that his family initially believed had been stolen.

“The Petty family is grateful that RR Auction facilitated the safe return of the items, which have been returned to the Petty family’s secure archives, and there is currently no belief RR Auction committed or knew of any wrongdoing regarding the disputed ownership of the items,” the statement reads. “To show their gratitude, the family has agreed to a select few of the belongings to be offered for auction through RR Auction. The family supports the upcoming sale and verifies the authenticity of the items to be offered.”

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Read details of the case below.

PREVIOUSLY, May 24: An attorney for an auction house planning to put items from rocker Tom Petty on the block has said it will investigate claims by his family that the items were stolen.

Mark S. Zaid told TMZ that RR Auction has been cooperating wth the Petty family “from the moment they reached out to us just days ago and will happily continue to do so without unnecessary hostile threats of litigation. We take theft allegations such as these very seriously. Indeed, in the years I have represented the company, we have never failed to reach an amicable resolution when on the rare occasion items presented by our consignors turned out to have provenance concerns.”

The RR Auction house was planning an auction of personal property of Petty’s.

A statement from the family said it “firmly believes” the auction items have “been outright stolen from a secured archive based on prior knowledge, staff observations and documentation. The family is pursuing all available legal action for the immediate return of these items, and they ask that fans and collectors refrain from participating in this auction until the matter is settled to avoid getting further involved in this legal action.”

Neither side disclosed who provided the items or how they were acquired. The items at issue include jackets, hats, vests, boots, shirts, shoes, autographed items and recent exclusive limited editions.

City News Service contributed to this report.

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