A video of happier days for Lexington was shown in court Friday. It showed her with the man she claims was her husband, the late super lawyer John O'Quinn, on a buying spree of collectible luxury cars.
Now it's video evidence in a fight to block the sale of five of those cars. Lexington was not named in O'Quinn's will and that's not what this court hearing is about. It has to do with the five cars she says were gifts, worth nearly $5 million. The estate has possession of them and hundreds of O'Quinn's other collector cars. The five cars in question are scheduled to be auctioned off next week and Lexington wants them back. Her attorneys first called a witness by the name of Wayne Hall. Hall said O'Quinn had told him one of the cars was Darla's.Lexington's daughter, Michelle Coopwood, took the stand and characterized the relationship between her mother and O'Quinn. Coopwood said O'Quinn introduced her to others as his daughter, and she referred to him as her dad.
Also among the witnesses who took the stand were former O'Quinn employees who testified O'Quinn always referred to them as Lexington's cars. Gayla Miller was director of O'Quinn's classy classic cars collection.
Question: How would you describe their relationship?Miller: They were passionate about the car collecting business.
Question: Did she ever say I want this car?
Miller: Yes, she did. He'd say, "Then you can have it baby."
On Friday afternoon, Lexington took the stand, identifying her last name as O'Quinn. She referred to O'Quinn as "a husband, my lover and my life." Lexington testified she doesn't want the cars returned in order to sell them. "First of all, they were mine, and I'm planning for them to go into a museum in Houston. That's still my goal," Lexington said.
Before the judge, attorneys for O'Quinn's estate argued that none of these cars were in Lexington's name.
Under questioning from the estate's attorneys, it was brought out that O'Quinn's estate assets are in trouble and that not selling the five cars she claims as gifts could dig a deeper financial hole. Lexington responded in an emotional voice, "They took those cars. I'm treated like I never knew John O'Quinn." Late Friday afternoon, the judge said there would be no decision in this case until Monday. Stay with Eyewitness News and abc13.com for the latest on this story.