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Dave Hester’s lawsuit does not prove that Storage Wars was fake. It proves that Hester accused the show’s producers of planting valuable items and staging lockers, and that the dispute led to a partial court ruling and a later settlement with undisclosed terms. Separate reported comments by executive producer Thom Beers indicate some production shaping, but they do not establish Hester’s broader allegations.
What Dave Hester alleged in his lawsuit
Storage Wars premiered in 2010 and followed bidders competing for abandoned storage lockers at public auctions, according to contemporaneous coverage by the Los Angeles Times and ABC News.
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In December 2012, Hester sued A&E Television Networks and production company Original Productions in Los Angeles Superior Court. He alleged wrongful termination, breach of contract and unfair business practices. His complaint claimed that producers regularly planted valuable items or memorabilia, sometimes staged entire units, and fired him after he complained. Those were allegations in Hester’s complaint, not findings by a court.
How A&E responded
A&E disputed Hester’s account. ABC reported the network’s statement: “There is no staging involved. The items uncovered in the storage units are the actual items featured on the show.” In a later legal response, A&E argued that Hester was let go because of trademark and contract issues and accused him of participating in “salting” units, meaning placing items in them. These are A&E’s claims, not independent findings.
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What producer Thom Beers said about production
In an account of a June 2012 panel, Reality Blurred reported that executive producer Thom Beers described occasional movement of an item between lockers and acknowledged writing some lines for cast members. The comments suggest production shaping, but they do not establish Hester’s separate claim that producers regularly planted valuables or staged entire units.
“Nope. I can honestly tell you that the stuff found in those containers are found in storage containers. Now what I will tell you this: We have 20, 30 auctions, and so occasionally maybe one piece shows for one auction container, storage locker to another, you know, but that’s as far as we’ll go. That’s, I think, important.”
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Storage Wars: Season 1
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— Thom Beers, as quoted in Reality Blurred’s account of the panel
The “20, 30” phrase is part of Beers’s reported quote, not a measured count of how often items were moved.
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“I have to admit: There’s some writing involved. We do it in Storage Wars, we do in America’s Lost Treasures. … I’m so tired of narration driving story.”
— Thom Beers, as quoted in Reality Blurred’s account of the panel
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Storage Wars: Season 2
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These quotations come from a secondary report of the panel, not a transcript hosted by its organizer. They support a narrower point about written lines and occasional item movement; they do not settle whether the show’s auctions or discoveries were broadly staged.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the court decided—and did not decide
In March 2013, Judge Michael Johnson dismissed Hester’s unfair-business-practices claim on First Amendment grounds and rejected an injunction against the series, according to TheWrap. TheWrap reported that breach-of-contract and implied-covenant claims remained to be explored. This was a partial ruling: it did not determine whether the show had or had not been staged.
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What the settlement means
In July 2014, RadarOnline reported that Hester and the defendants settled for an undisclosed amount, with terms under seal; a court document said, “Judgment is satisfied in full.” The reported settlement does not disclose a factual resolution of the staging dispute, so it is not proof that either side’s account was correct.
Does the lawsuit prove Storage Wars was fake?
No. “Fake” can refer to different things: written dialogue, editing, moving an item between lockers, planting objects, staging whole units or predetermining auction outcomes. The evidence described in the reporting does not establish all those claims as one fact. Hester alleged extensive staging; A&E denied it and offered a different explanation for his departure; Beers was reported to have acknowledged narrower production interventions; and neither the partial ruling nor the reported settlement resolved the central factual dispute.
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