A son of the late “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry can continue with his legal quest for his claim of ownership to the original model of the Starship Enterprise that already is the subject of a lawsuit between two men and an auctioneer, a judge has ruled.
In their Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit brought last May 7, Distin Riach and Jason Rivas say they discovered the model and hired Heritage to sell it, but that the auction house breached its duties by selling it to Roddenberry’s son, Gene “Rod” Roddenberry Jr,. at a discount to encourage future business for Heritage.
The plaintiffs maintain the model was sold in 2023 for $300,000 despite being worth $800,000. On Friday, Judge Daniel Murphy overruled a motion by Riach and Rivas to dismiss Roddenberry Jr.’s amended complaint in intervention, which was filed Feb. 25 and seeks a judgment that he is the sole owner of the model.
The plaintiffs alleged that the amended complaint was a “sham pleading” changed to avoid an earlier defect, that Roddenberry Jr. had no standing to bring it and that it violated the statute of limitations. The judge overruled the pair on all three grounds, noting that Roddenberry Jr. alleges he owns the model through bequeathments, that the pleadings do not establish that Roddenberry Jr.’s complaint is time-barred and that the revised complaint is not a sham pleading because it just made clarifications.
The elder Roddenberry died in October 1991 at age 70.