Sean P. MeansOne piece of the dispute over a missing Lego “Star Wars” collection — a battle that ranged from Utah to Oregon and drew the attention of millions — is now resolved.
Provo-based BAM Franchising Inc., which franchises the Lego resale chain Bricks & Minifigs, announced Wednesday that the company and its leadership had “reached a comprehensive and amicable resolution of a private civil dispute” with Bryan Mansell and his family.
The Mansell family had consigned their Lego “Star Wars” sets and figures, accumulated by Bryan Mansell’s 83-year-old father and valued at more than $200,000, to the now-former owner of a Bricks & Minifigs store in Keizer, Oregon.
That store later closed, the collection was apparently lost and the family has said it never received payment for their consignment, according to court filings.
BAM Franchising did not announce the terms of its settlement with the Mansell family.
But in a statement, the company noted it’s “a compromise of disputed claims,” and no one involved is admitting “liability, wrongdoing or unlawful conduct by BAM, the Mansells or any other released party.”
BAM has compensated the Mansells for losses stemming from the consignment, the statement said, and the Mansells “are releasing all their legal claims against” the company and its leadership.
In return, BAM and its leaders are dismissing a lawsuit filed against Bryan Mansell, in which the company accused Mansell and others of coordinating a harassment and extortion campaign targeting Bricks & Minifigs franchise owners in Utah and Oregon.
Chrystal Law Gorman, who previously owned the Keizer store with her husband, said in an email Wednesday that their separate lawsuit against BAM “is still moving forward and not affected by [the Mansells’] settlement agreement.”
In the couple’s suit, filed in March, the Gormans allege that Bricks & Minifigs improperly ousted them and “seized control of the business and changed the locks that same evening” without prior notice or compensation.
On Wednesday, Law Gorman told The Tribune, “I am pleased that Bryan has reached a settlement, and I hope he feels that he has been fairly compensated.”
In BAM’s statement, the company pointed to the Oregon store’s “former operator” without mentioning the Gormans by name.
“The Mansells’ loss arose in part from the sale, accounting, storage and disposition of inventory by the former operator,” the statement read.
The company added that it “recognizes that the Mansell family experienced a genuine loss” and “regrets that it did not more quickly access information necessary to understand and resolve the matter.”
The company “issued an unqualified apology” to the family “for the losses and pain suffered” during the dispute, the statement continued.
The dispute reached millions of web followers when YouTube personality Ben Schneider, known as “Reckless Ben,” went viral with his efforts to help retrieve the Mansells’ Lego sets.
Schneider’s efforts briefly landed him in the custody of American Fork police, and in front of a judge who ordered him to stay at least 100 yards away from any Bricks & Minifigs store, as well as the company’s offices or employees’ homes.
A lawsuit the company and several of its executives filed against Schneider in May remains pending.
Sean P. Means has been reporting and editing for The Salt Lake Tribune since 1991 — including 25 years as movie critic. Since 2018, he has reported on arts and culture reporter, and breaking news — and was part of The Tribune’s COVID-19 reporting team. He reviews movies for MovieCricket.net and X96’s “Radio From Hell” program.