There’s a house in Nantucket still waiting for a sleigh bed that was shipped from Los Angeles over a year ago.
Instead of being the perfect finishing touch to a manicured summer home, the bed is collecting dust in a storeroom somewhere between Boston and Nantucket.
Apparently, no one could agree on a delivery time. But Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Pro Tem Ronald Papell last week ordered the parties involved to work it out.
Lillian Lageyre, the Santa Monica interior decorator who designed the home, said that All-American Express Moving Co. promised her delivery within 10 days.
So Lageyre took the movers to court, demanding they deliver the bed or reimburse her for its cost.
Mark Leistyna, sales manager for the moving company, said they had no control over delivery, as the bed had been transferred to another moving company to make the last leg of the journey by ferry.
The new movers had been unsuccessful in negotiating a delivery time with the homeowners, Leistyna said.
Rather than make a ruling, Judge Papell encouraged the two parties to resolve their dispute out of court.
“There’s a bed, it needs to be delivered,” he said. “Let’s keep our eye on the ball.” Judge Papell then turned to the plaintiff, who still owes half of the $1,200 moving fee, payable on delivery.
“You need to pay the $600,” he said, before turning to the moving man, who Papell said should foot the bill for the year’s worth of accrued storage charges. “And you need to deliver the bed. And then this thing goes away.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 28, 2002. Read the original PDF.