A retired investment banker who was acting out his own private “Storage Wars” in court for the past two years may finally get his belongings back.
John Coleman, 70, sold his E. 72nd Street, four-bedroom duplex for just under $6 million in 2011 and then balked at moving charges that ballooned from a $4,800 estimate to a $46,500 invoice.
A Manhattan judge ruled last week that Coleman only owes an additional $4,700 on top of the estimate to New York-based packing outfit Crozier Fine Arts. He can also retrieve his furniture that’s been allegedly held hostage at the company’s Newark warehouse.
“Coleman did not agree to pay the exorbitant amount charged by Crozier for the move, only the amount mentioned in the estimate, plus the two additional services,” Judge Shirley Werner Kornreich wrote in her Jan. 31 decision.
The additional services were packing a rifle case and hoisting a three-cushion sofa, according to court papers.
“There is evidence that the moving job became problematic due to delays and requests by Coleman and a ‘series of difficult snowstorms,” Kornreich acknowledged. But because Coleman was never given an updated cost estimate, he’s not responsible for the inflated fees, she found.
Coleman’s goods avoided the fate of items that are auctioned off in the A&E reality show Storage Wars when rent is not paid on storage units. In July 2012 Crozier hit Coleman with a $148,000 lien for the bill plus late charges, and threatened to sell his belongings. The Notice of Sale was withdrawn in August amidst the legal proceedings.
Since then “Crozier has been holding the property hostage,” Judge Kornreich charged.
Coleman’s attorney, Richard Roth, said the decision should be a cautionary tale to unscrupulous movers.
“Moving companies, who you entrust all of your personal assets to, should simply not be allowed to take advantage of their customers,” Roth said.
But Kornreich scoffed at awarding any damages to Coleman, who filed the $500,000 lawsuit in 2011, rejecting his claim that he just had to hole up in a $7,500-a-month room at the Lombardy hotel on Park Avenue because Crozier had his furniture.
“The court finds there was no credible evidence that Coleman could not have located a significantly less expensive furnished residence,” the judge declared.
A rep for Crozier declined to comment.