William Koch's Thomas Jefferson Wine Lawsuit Too Late, Court Rules
William, brother of the famous "koch" brothers, Charles and David.....
NEW YORK, Oct 4 (Reuters) - A billionaire's lawsuit over wine said to be owned by Thomas Jefferson has died on the vine.
A federal appeals court in New York ruled on Thursday that William Koch, the founder of Oxbow Group energy company, had waited too long to file a lawsuit against Christie's auction house.
Koch, a brother of businessmen and conservative political activists Charles and David Koch, had accused Christie's of rubber stamping as authentic a cache of wine said to have been owned by the third U.S. president, while knowing it was worthless plonk.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that Koch failed to conduct timely due diligence when doubts were first raised about the wine's authenticity.
Koch bought four bottles of red wine in 1987 and 1988 that was said to be from 1787 and with the letters "Th.J." etched in the glass. Jefferson was a wine aficionado and served as an envoy to France in the late 18th century. The wines at issue were purported to have been discovered in Paris.
But starting in 2000, reports surfaced that cast doubt on the origin of the bottles, clues that "would suggest to a reasonably intelligent person that the wine was not authentic," the appeals court wrote.
Yet Koch waited until 2005 to begin his investigation into the wine's origin, the court said. Koch's claim, the court concluded, "is therefore time-barred."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/04/william-koch-thomas-jefferson_n_1940352.html?utm_hp_ref=business
Too bad so sad..... 
= new reply since forum marked as read
Wow. So the judges are saying William Koch isn't reasonably intelligent? How embarrassing for him!
