Russo Steele Auction Storm Damage by Ken Boswell

The Russo Steele Auction had collector cars that were damaged in Scottsdale this past Thursday evening during the horrific storm that hit around 6:15 pm at the Russo Steele Car Auction which was hit the hardest in North Scottsdale as both tents where the sold and unsold cars were parked experienced 65 MPH +- winds, ( not km/hr ) winds which got under these two football field size tents and lifted them hurtling them onto the adjacent 101 east bound adjacent freeway closing the road for hours and shutting down the Auction immediately. The Barrett-Jackson Auction took pre-cautionary action several hours earlier that day at their close by location that afternoon because the local weather stations were predicting 2-3 days in advance of this looming storm and they subsequently parked 18 wheelers all around the perimeter of the open tents attempting to close in the ends and sides of their outside tents where the cars were stored blocking the impact of some of the predicted wind damage. Legal representation extending from Haggerty Insurance , Russo Steele and private insurance companies for car sellers and car buyers will have a hay day with these damaged car claims as the Attorneys will allege that Russo Steele may have been negligent in that they should have taken the same pre-cautionary measures as did Barrett-Jackson because Russo Steele like everyone else who had access to a television weather report knew of the coming storm days in advance and yet did nothing extra to secure the tents similar to what Barrett-Jackson did to avoid possible damage from the coming storm. Legal issues may also arise as to who is responsible for the damage because of when the title to these vehicles actually changes hand as the title to these cars has to be given to the Auction Company at the time the sellers bring in the car to sell and the title is signed off at that time in blank by the seller while eventually waiting for the Auction Company to then sign over the car to the new buyer after the car is sold as the Auction Company does not take the title in their name however they hold an owner/seller title signed transfer in blank for the new buyer. Everyone was evacuated from the Russo Steele Auction when the storm hit fending for themselves and the Auction was closed until today Sun., Jan. 24 attempting to sell damaged and undamaged cars probably subject to fixing the cars , however the law suits are probably being stacked up right now and the ambulance chasing Attorneys are switching to representing car buyers and car sellers at these Auctions who suffered car damage. Enjoy the photos and as reports emerge, so to speak, on the legal issues I will forward this info to you for the Membership to enjoy (hoping that none of our Members have suffered this type of damage). Ken Boswell, Member , Scottsdale, AZ.

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