Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza ruled Wednesday that the receiver in cases involving former photo archivist John Rogers can pursue the sale of a collection of about 7,500 sports photos.
Known as the Conlon Collection, the photos on glass negatives include a famous photo of baseball Hall of Famer Ty Cobb stealing third base in 1910. The pictures were shot by sports photographer Charles Conlon.
An attorney for George Demos, who has an ownership claim in the Conlon Collection, said Demos was not opposed to the photos being sold at auction.
Piazza said he wanted to "get the ball rolling" on raising money to cover some of the debt owed by Rogers, of North Little Rock.
First Arkansas Bank & Trust of Jacksonville sued Rogers in 2014 seeking more than $15 million the bank lent to Rogers, plus interest. Rogers began borrowing money in 2011 to fund his purchases of newspaper photo archives and collections of other photos. Rogers borrowed millions more from others, including friends, to help fund the purchases.
First Arkansas Bank has filed several lawsuits that involve Rogers. There are more than 40 defendants named in the bank's main case against the former archivist.
Michael McAfee, receiver in the cases against Rogers, testified that he was unsure how valuable the Conlon Collection is.
The collection may be worth $1.2 million to $1.3 million, Roger Rowe, an attorney for the bank, said in an interview after Wednesday's hearing. There is a possibility that McAfee will attempt to sell the Conlon Collection this summer in a public auction of other items of similar value, Rowe said.
In another motion brought up Wednesday, Piazza ruled that he would allow a criminal case against Rogers to be completed before ordering Rogers to turn over a computer hard drive that disappeared from one of Rogers' former businesses last year.
Rogers was charged with felony counts of theft of property and commercial burglary in a break-in at the business.
There is a possibility that First Arkansas' primary lawsuit against Rogers is decided through a series of motions instead of a hearing before a jury, Rowe said.
Rowe said that's partly because there isn't a dispute over priorities and claims for some of the archives that Rogers acquired.
"There are archives for which there are disputes," Rowe said. "And so I anticipate a series of motions that proceed from the easiest to the hardest. And at the end, is it all handled by motions or is there a trial over what's left? The judge will have to settle that. In a case with this many moving parts and parties, if it can be narrowed down through motions, that's what should happen."
Business on 01/21/2016