Motorized Recliner Seized in Drunken-Driving Case Is Auctioned for $3,700
La-Z-Boy may have a point. Bids in an attempted auction last year of a motorized recliner whose occupant was arrested and eventually convicted for driving while intoxicated topped the $40,000 mark before the sale was stopped over legal issues raised by the company.
Famous for its trademarked chairs, La-Z-Boy objected that the company’s name shouldn’t have been used, as it was, in advertising for bids, since La-Z-Boy didn’t manufacture the recliner. And, although what apparently may be the same chair has just been auctioned again, the price for the lawnmower-engine-powered vehicle without the cachet of the La-Z-Boy name was considerably lower: $3,700, according to the Park Rapids Enterprise (reg. req.).
The proceeds from the auction of the forfeited chair will go to the Proctor, Minn., police department.
There’s no word on what the new owner intends to do with the chair, which is equipped with a stereo, cupholders and a magazine rack.
Additional coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Trademark Concerns Derail Auction of Motorized Recliner That Isn’t a La-Z-Boy”
Associated Press: “Motorized chair used in DUI is auctioned”
Proctor Journal: “DWI chair sells for $3,700”
