Pryor Cashman Obtains $1.8M Judgment on Behalf of Art Collector
A federal judge from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has awarded Pryor Cashman client, Richard Fisher, a $1.8M default judgment in an action against Moscow-based art organization, the Petr Konchalovsky Foundation.
At the center of the suit was the oil painting “Still Life with Grinder,” (pictured above) by the Russian artist Petr Petrovich Konchalovsky, for whom the defendant-foundation is named. It was alleged that when Fisher purchased the painting from Sotheby’s in 1991, the foundation had confirmed its authenticity. However, when he attempted to sell the piece back to Sotheby’s in 2012, it was alleged that the foundation claimed it was a fake without following their own stated authentication practices and procedures. As a result, Sotheby’s refused to proceed with the sale.
Fisher alleged that in “deauthenticating” the piece, the foundation conducted a “recklessly cursory review that completely departed from their own standard of diligence and care,” and was “motivated by the desire to control the market for works by Konchalovsky.” The foundation never appeared in the action to respond to those allegations.
The lawsuit attracted attention earlier this year after the federal judge allowed Fisher to serve process upon the defendant-foundation in Moscow via email. After the foundation then failed to appear to defend the litigation, the federal judge entered the $1.8M default judgment in favor of Fisher.
Pryor Cashman partner, William Charron, co-leader of the firm’s Art Law practice and a member of its Litigation and Intellectual Property Groups, represented Fisher in this matter, together with litigation associate Mark Weiner.
