Park West Gallery, Defending Itself Against Defamation, Files Counterclaim in Michigan Against Fine Art Registry and Surrogates. Former Assistant U.S. Attorney and FBI Art Team Legal Advisor Robert E. Goldman Joins Park West's Legal Team
January 28, 2009 – 21:44Posted : Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:15:49 GMT
Author : Park West Gallery
Category : Press Release
Former Assistant U.S. Attorney and FBI Art Team Legal Advisor Robert E. Goldman Joins Park West’s Legal Team SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Jan. 28
SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Jan. 28 /PRNewswire/ — Park West Gallery, one of the
world’s largest art dealers, is defending itself forcefully against a campaign
of defamation and business interference waged by the website Fine Art Registry
(FAR). Responding to a lawsuit filed earlier this year in Oakland County
Circuit Court by Park West customers recruited by FAR, the 40-year-old
Southfield-based gallery has filed a counterclaim charging defamation,
tortuous interference and civil conspiracy. In addition, Robert E. Goldman,
one of the most respected art legal experts in the world, has joined Park
West’s legal team.
PARK WEST SEEKS INJUCTION AND DAMAGES
Park West Gallery’s counterclaim names five plaintiffs from the earlier
suit along with a third-party complaint against FAR, its founder Theresa
Franks, and Frank Hunter, operator of another art website. Park West Gallery
is charging the parties with:
– Publishing numerous false and defamatory statements about Park West
– Attempting to destroy Park West’s goodwill and reputation by use of
false and defamatory statements
– Interfering with existing contractual relationships between Park
West and its customers, and
– Interfering with Park West’s prospective business opportunities.
Park West is seeking a permanent injunction against these individuals and
FAR along with actual and punitive damages.
INTERNATIONAL ART LAW EXPERT JOINS PARK WEST DEFENSE
Park West Gallery also announced that art legal expert Robert Goldman has
joined its legal defense team, assisting the Southfield-based law firm Young &
Susser. “I am proud to represent Park West Gallery in this important legal
battle, the outcome of which will be important to the entire art industry,”
said Goldman. “If reckless individuals and organizations are permitted to
falsely attack the hard-earned reputations of legitimate art dealers without
consequence, the art market, including artists, auction houses, museums,
dealers and collectors, will suffer irreparable harm. I look forward to
highlighting the truth and righting this wrong in the courts.”
Goldman served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for 19 years, during which
time he focused on matters involving international art theft and museum theft.
He was also Special Trial Attorney, appointed by the U.S. Department of
Justice to counsel and assist the newly created FBI National Art Crime Team,
which battles international art theft, antiquities smuggling, and fraud in the
art collecting industry. With the FBI, Goldman was involved in the recovery of
more than $150 million of stolen art and cultural property.
“In the fall of 2008, Albert Scaglione invited me in to examine the
company’s people, policies, operations and collection,” said Goldman. “There
were no boundaries or barriers to my study, and I have developed a deep
respect for and trust in this extraordinary organization of honest, hard-
working professionals. Based on my first-hand observations and decades of art
law experience, I am delighted to be joining their legal team.”
PARK WEST DEFENDS 40-YEAR REPUTATION
“Over the last 40 years we have served more than 1.2 million satisfied
clients through our gallery sales as well as our land and sea auctions,” said
Albert Scaglione, chief executive officer and founder of Park West Gallery.
“Our reputation is dear to us and we stand behind the authenticity of
everything we sell, including the works of art involved in the meritless
lawsuits brought by FAR. We welcome Bob Goldman, who is one of the most
accomplished art legal experts in the world, to our team and are confident
that we will prevail in the legal actions we have initiated against FAR as
well as the baseless suits they have brought against us.”
Park West Gallery’s 40/40/40 Customer Satisfaction Guarantee is the most
generous and comprehensive in the art industry, giving customers the
opportunity to return purchased items for refund (excluding buyer’s premium
and shipping costs) for up to 40 days after delivery, and the right to
exchange any work for another in the Park West collection for up to 40 months.
More than 90 % of the artworks sold by Park West have been created by
living artists with long-standing relationships with the gallery. These
internationally acclaimed artists include Yaacov Agam, Simon Bull, Alfred
Gockel, Scott Jacobs, Thomas Kinkade, Anatole Krasnyansky, Linda Le Kinff,
Csaba Markus, Peter Max, Itzchak Tarkay, and David Willardson, as well as
Detroit favorites Marcus Glenn and Dominic Pangborn. Responding to FAR’s
defamation, Tarkay remarked, “I believe so much in Park West that I have
entrusted the company with my intellectual property and copyrights for more
than a decade, and they have tirelessly and with great expense, defended my
work against counterfeiters and others who have attempted to illegally gain
through my success.”
BACKGROUND ON FAR DEFAMATION CAMPAIGN
As Park West’s counterclaim states, FAR’s defamatory attacks began in 2007
shortly after the gallery rejected a business offer from the start-up
website’s management. Recognizing the potential profit from Park West’s
clients — the gallery sells hundreds of thousands of works each year — FAR
approached Park West to buy the website’s art registry services. For an annual
membership fee of $9.95 and $2.25 per registered work, FAR simply lists an
artwork on its site without examining the actual work, researching its
authenticity or guaranteeing the website’s future existence. Park West saw no
value to its customers in spending well in excess of $1 million per year for
FAR’s service, and passed on FAR’s solicitation.
FAR’s defamation began soon after, forcing the gallery in April 2008 to
take its initial legal action in Michigan and Florida against FAR. While
those suits progress through the courts, FAR has continued its online attacks
and sponsored unsuccessful legal challenges in a number of states. A FAR-
sponsored suit similar to the one filed in Michigan this year was dismissed in
California in December 2008. Park West is seeking reimbursement for legal fees
in that case.
ABOUT PARK WEST GALLERY
Founded in 1969, Park West Gallery conducts art auctions at locations
throughout the world, as well as on 85 cruise ships operated by the Carnival,
Celebrity, Disney, Holland America, Norwegian, Oceania, Regent Seven Seas and
Royal Caribbean cruise lines. The Park West Gallery collection includes oil
and acrylic paintings, watercolors and drawings, hand-signed limited edition
etchings, lithographs, serigraphs, and hand-embellished graphic works, as well
as animation art and selected sports memorabilia. Park West Gallery occupies
a 63,000 square foot headquarters and gallery in Southfield, Michigan and an
181,000 square foot fulfillment center and gallery in Miami Lakes, Florida.
SOURCE Park West Gallery
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