CRANSTON, R.I. (WPRI) — A Cranston auction house has been tied up in a lawsuit for years after a Canadian comic book collector says thousands of his valuable collectibles seemingly disappeared without fair compensation.
In 2020, Bernie Arsenault filed a lawsuit in federal court that names Kevin Bruneau, Travis Landry and Ashle Tortolani from Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers as defendants.
Arsenault says he hired the auction house to sell 42,400 of his comic books in 2018, after Landry’s multiple appearances on “Antiques Roadshow” as an expert appraiser convinced him of Bruneau & Co.’s prominent reputation.
According to Arsenault, Bruneau told him it would take three or four years to sell the entire collection. “He said, ‘You know, this would be like an annuity,'” explained Arsenault. He told Target 12 he was planning on using the money for his retirement.
The lawsuit alleges Arsenault entered into a consignment contract with the company under which they would sell his comic books and keep 25% of the profit, while the remaining money after fees and costs would go back to Arsenault.
For a while, he said, “Everything seemed to be good.”
Court documents show that Arsenault received more than $10,000 in checks from the auction house between 2018 and 2020. But the collector became suspicious when some of the checks didn’t have any information about which specific comic books were sold and for what price.
At first, he sent a letter to Bruneau & Co. asking the company to terminate their contract and send the remaining comic books back to him.
When that didn’t work out, he decided to file the lawsuit.
“At first it was the monetary, but at this stage of the game, it’s now just about justice,” he said.
Bruneau’s attorney, Stephen Levesque, disputes the allegations made against his client and says Bruneau followed the terms of the agreement. Levesque says the company sold some of the books at a handful of auctions and sent the remaining books back to Arsenault.
Levesque also claims that the collection was not worth $1 million as Arsenault claims, valuing it instead around $20,000.
The lawsuit was scheduled to go to trial this year, but Bruneau filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in February, which put the trial on hold.
Target 12 found more than 50 creditors listed on the filing, which claims Bruneau owes more than $700,000 — mainly to people who consigned with him.
READ THE STORY: Local auctioneer files for bankruptcy, still owes consignors around $700K
In a recent interview, Sheldon Stowe said he hired the auction company to sell 20 of his father’s antique guns, but was never paid.
“It’s a sad thing. I know that I didn’t lose as much as other people,” Stowe said.
Linda Bowers also relied on the auction house to sell her father’s antique guns last summer and didn’t receive the $3,200 payment that she was owed.
“It’s time-consuming and it’s frustrating,” she said.
Target 12 reached out to Landry and Tortolani for a comment, but hasn’t heard back.
The bankruptcy case is still ongoing, but those typically take months. Once Bruneau & Co.’s bankruptcy is finalized, Arsenault’s case will likely go to trial.
Sarah Guernelli (sguernelli@wpri.com) is the consumer investigative reporter for 12 News. Connect with her on Twitter and on Facebook.
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