July 2nd, 2015

Art Industry Clients Get a Big Win

The Frankfurt Kurnit Litigation team registered a big win for clients David Segal and Mohamed Serry, two New York-based art and antiques dealers. Our clients were accused by the plaintiff, a former colleague in the art and antiques business, of having sold fake impressionist paintings and fake Russian antiques valued at more than $20 million, and of having stolen two works of art sold for approximately $10 million. The plaintiff also claimed that our clients had tricked him into transferring ownership of a condo without paying for it. The allegedly fake art included works by Renoir, Manet and Monet while the art that was supposedly stolen was claimed to have been by Picasso and Vlaminck. As to the fake art claims, our clients denied having sold the artwork and Justice Kornreich of the Commercial Division of New York Supreme Court granted our motion for summary judgment to dismiss all of these claims because plaintiff could not produce any evidence of any written agreements that could satisfy the statute of frauds. As to the stolen art claims, our clients denied having stolen anything and the court dismissed these claims finding that the evidence presented by plaintiff was so incredible that no jury could rely on it. The court also dismissed all claims related to the condo. A link to the full decision can be found here. Brian Maas, Jeremy Goldman, Caren Decter, and Nicole Bergstrom represented Mr. Segal and Mr. Serry.