The daughter of the late music producer Phil Spector, who previously obtained a temporary restraining order preventing the sale at auction by Juliens Auctions LLC of memorabilia that once belonged to her father, has reached a settlement with the auction house.
Torrance Superior Court Judge David K. Reinert issued a TRO on May 18 in favor of Nicole Spector, preventing any auction from going forward. On Wednesday, Judge Deirdre Hill, informed of the accord, nonetheless said the TRO will remain in effect and that Julien's must appear for a Dec. 13 hearing to explain any opposition to a preliminary injunction being issued.
Nicole Spector's original suit, filed May 16, stated she obtained a detailed probate court order after her father's death "specifically confirming" that the personal property at issue belongs to the trust established by Phil Spector in 2016, which names her as the sole trustee.
Nicole Spector maintained she sought the court order after her father's ex-wife, Rachelle Spector, refused to turn over or allow the plaintiff access to property that remained in the former spouse's possession after the divorce was final.
In an amended suit brought June 30, Nicole Spector added Rachelle Spector as a defendant, alleging conversion of property by her father's onetime spouse. Nicole Spector seeks a preliminary injunction stopping Rachelle Spector from "taking possession of any items of the Spector property" or offering or advertising it for sale or auction.
"Rachelle intentionally took possession of, prevented Nicole from having access to, and thus substantially interfered with Nicole's right to possession of the Spector property," according to the revised suit.
In a sworn declaration submitted in support of her request for a preliminary injunction, Nicole Spector says a Julien's representative stated that the Spector property was obtained from a woman associated with Antiques on Magnolia in Burbank, who claimed to have obtained the property from a woman purporting to be the musician's daughter.
"Based on Rachelle's prior behavior, and what I understand Julien's to have represented regarding the manner in which it obtained the Spector property, I believe that Rachelle impersonated me, or a representative of the estate, and provided the items to Julien's, personally or through a third party, on the pretense that Rachelle was me and thus was entitled to sell the Spector property," Nicole Spector said.
The property at issue included gold and platinum records, awards from the Songwriter's Hall of Fame and numerous others, original master recordings, music and lyric sheets, a framed photo montage given to Phil Spector by John Lennon and numerous other valuable items.
In her own sworn declaration, Rachelle Spector said that of the items listed for auction, many were not identified as being granted to Phil Spector in the divorce settlement because they were deemed to be her property at the time.
"The remaining items in the Julien's auction are my property as they had been left behind by Nicole back in January 2019," Rachelle Spector said. "I now wish to sell my property at auction and I understand that any delay would likely cause a substantial decrease the value of these items."
Phil Spector died in January 2021 at age 81 while serving a sentence of 19 years to life for the murder of actor Lana Clarkson. The cause of the "Wall of Sound" producer's death was complications from the coronavirus, Nicole Spector said at the time.
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