Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! The First District Sweet Spot Court is now in session. Judge Arnold Kaplan of New York presiding. Your honor, we have before us today a case involving an owner of a game-used piece of memorabilia. He acquired it from an original owner -- we'll call him Bill -- who offered a simple but seemingly credible story, attesting to the piece's authenticity. The item had never been reviewed by an authenticator, so Bill submitted it for such an evaluation. Indeed, the authenticators found the signed item to be game-used. On the strength of this certification, Bill proceeded to find a willing buyer. We'll call him Jim. Jim is a memorabilia dealer and paid handsomely for the piece with the confidence that he could further sell the item for a profit. He sold the item for about 50 percent more than what he paid for it to another buyer. We'll call him Pete.

Pete decided to have another authenticator examine the piece and, lo and behold, this authenticator said the autograph was traced over and the age of the glove didn't match the playing history of the Hall of Famer. Naturally, Pete feels deceived, cheated. He wants his money back. Jim understands and says he needs to check with Bill, the guy who sold the piece to him. Bill is in no position to refund the money, but feels bad in the face of this turn of events. He turns to the athenticator, whose opinion prompted Bill to sell the item in the first place. Pete is out about $30,000 for the game-used item. He just wants his money back.

Judge Kaplan we just want to make right on this matter. What say you? Who pays? Judge Kaplan -- actually he's a seasoned attorney, general litigation, and not a judge -- also is a long-time baseball fan and collector. He understands the concept of caveat emptor, let the buyer beware. He's also interested as a matter of public interest of protecting against this from happening again.

What follows is his ruling and views expressed by other memorabilia observers.

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