Magician’s Suit Charges He Bought Wrong Batmobile

Magician David Copperfield filed a $1-million lawsuit Friday against Butterfield & Butterfield, charging that the upscale auction firm sold him a bogus “Batmobile.”

Copperfield says he bid $189,000 for what Butterfield & Butterfield identified as the Batmobile used in the 1989 “Batman” movie starring Michael Keaton and Kim Basinger. Instead, Copperfield was sold a similar vehicle that was only used for promotional purposes, the lawsuit alleges.

Andrew Vorzimer, an attorney representing Butterfield & Butterfield, denied any wrongdoing. He said the auction house plans a countersuit.

“I can tell you Copperfield refused to pay for the car,” Vorzimer said.

Copperfield bought the Batmobile through a telephone bid Feb. 27, believing the car he was bidding on was the one actually seen in the hit movie. “The value, to a collector, of the Batmobile stems in large part from the fact that it was actually used in the motion picture,” the lawsuit states. It does not specify if there were any physical differences between the Batmobile Copperfield bought and the car filmed in the movie.