This week, our team succeeded in obtaining a temporary restraining order on behalf of our client, who is seeking the return of a large group of important artworks consigned to Chicago art dealer Kavi Gupta and his eponymous gallery.   

As alleged in papers filed in a New York state court, our client, Longcraft, purchased the works from Gupta’s gallery in 2025, and then consigned them back to the gallery to be marketed for resale.  But since then, Gupta has breached many of the conditions of the consignment arrangement, including by keeping sale proceeds and lying about the status and location of some of the artworks.  And most concerning, the consignment arrangement has now terminated, but Gupta has failed to return the works to our client. 

The parties’ contracts provide for arbitration of any disputes regarding these artworks, but New York law permits a party to seek court intervention “in aid of” arbitration—and that is exactly what we did this past week.  The court has now issued an order forbidding Gupta from selling, transferring, or otherwise further interfering with our client’s rights in these artworks.  The next step will be a hearing on our request that Gupta deliver all the works to a fine-art storage facility for the duration of the impending arbitration, and we look forward to continuing to protect our client’s interests as this dispute proceeds.

(Image Credit: DimiTalen, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)