Grossman LLP is picking up right where it left off last year, securing two significant victories last week in New York federal and state court art-related disputes. 

​After more than four years of litigation, a federal judge has delivered our team a total victory, ruling that our client holds full title to the multimillion-dollar Basquiat painting at the center of disgraced art dealer Inigo Philbrick’s massive fraud.  

A recent dispute over a one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album highlights some of the potential challenges inherent in ownership of digital art.  The suit was initiated by PleasrDAO, an international entity that collects important works of digital media, against disgraced former American pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli.

A recent federal court decision illustrates some of the challenges inherent in commissioning outdoor environmental artwork; the difficulties parties face in making sure that both the art and their contracts will withstand the test of time; and the limitations of the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (VARA).

Last week, the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court, First Department, issued a unanimous 5-0 decision reversing the trial court’s denial of summary judgment and handing Grossman LLP a total win for its clients in a real-estate litigation that had been pending for over 10 years.

Grossman LLP associate Maria Angela Brusco recently spoke on a panel at the Art Law Institute of the New York County Lawyers’ Association (NYCLA), focusing on the legal implications of collectors’ promises to make gifts of artworks in the future.  Below, she summarizes some key insights from the event.

In June of 2022, on the shore of Lake Michigan, a fire destroyed the lake house of hedge fund founder Matthew Halbower and his wife Julie.  Now, in a lawsuit pending in federal court, the family’s trust seeks an insurance payout for several valuable artworks destroyed in the fire, including four Monet paintings.  The case highlights the complexity of insurance disputes involving fine art.

Grossman LLP has secured summary judgment dismissing a former hedge-fund billionaire’s claims that our client issued a usurious loan.

​Grossman LLP has secured a $1.18 million recovery—every dollar of damages sought—following a hard-fought breach-of-contract dispute on behalf of a leading apparel manufacturer hired to produce gowns in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

​At the conclusion of oral argument on December 2, 2020, Commercial Division Justice O. Peter Sherwood upheld Plaintiff Contrasto’s breach-of-contract claims by denying Defendant James Nachtwey’s motion to dismiss the complaint. 

In late December, a New York state court granted summary judgment in a dispute over an art deal that fell apart.  The decision is likely to be of interest to many dealers and collectors, as it addresses important contract and agency law issues, against a backdrop of dynamics that are not uncommon in art transactions.