In a November 22, 2011 decision by Justice Kornreich, the court granted the defendant’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed plaintiff Guido Orsi’s complaint. Orsi purchased a painting by artist Jean-Michel Basquiat from the Tony Shafrazi Gallery 20 years ago, which had previously acquired the painting from an auction at Christie’s. In 2006, Orsi learned that the painting was counterfeit and sued Christie’s alleging that it knew or was reckless in representing that the painting was not an original work. In granting Christie’s motion, the court found that Christie’s established that it had no knowledge that the painting was not authentic at the time of the auction or intended to defraud. Specifically, the court found that deposition testimony of several former Christie’s employees established Christie’s practices for obtaining information about art work and there was no evidence that Christie’s strayed from that practice with respect to the Basquiat painting. The court found that Orsi failed to establish a triable issue fact because his only evidence was deposition testimony Basquiat’s father who told an anonymous and unidentified man that he thought the painting was “not right.” However, the court found that the record as a whole failed to show that this man, Basquiat’s father, or anyone else ever conveyed to any Christie’s employee or agent that the painting was not authentic. The court found that at most, Orsi created a “shadowy semblance of an issue” which was insufficient to defeat summary judgment. Furthermore, the court rejected Orsi’s argument that Christie’s should have followed up an inquired as to the authenticity of the painting, because while those allegations may support a claim for negligence, they cannot support a fraud claim.
Tony Shafrazi Gallery Inc. v Christie’s Inc., Sup Ct, New York County, November 22, 2011, Kornreich, J, Index No. 112192/07