strange, to say the least. i mean a jury about to authenticate/deauthenicate a work of art. lsd, or not, any artist would recognize their own creations.
just suppose one of us engraved something years ago for a client who turned out to be a super-jerk. fast forward to current day, you're a wealthy, world famous engraver (yes, this is a hypothetical), and you get a call from a collector who's thinking about buying the old piece in question, but wants to verify it's really your work.
would you deny having done it just to put the screws to the original owner?
Hi Mitch, thanks for posting this. It is an interesting and unusual case.
It is set for trial before the Hon. Gary Scott Feinerman, United States district judge, United States Federal District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. It just happens that my brother-in-law is Judge Feinerman's Federal Official Court Reporter and that he and my wife will be tag-teaming on taking down and transcribing the testimony, if the case is actually tried. In that event, I will be able to read the testimony on a daily basis during the trial.
I could go downtown and watch the trial, but I spent too many years in Federal Courtrooms from 1973 to 2009 to want to spend nice summer days there now.
Personally, I think the plaintiffs have such an uphill battle that the case will settle before trial. I doubt that a jury would second-guess the artist's recollection.
Hon. Gary Feinerman, Federal Judge in the Northern District of Illinois, has ruled in favor of the Defendant in the case of Fletcher v. Doig. Defendant had waived his right to a jury trial, so that Judge Feinerman acted as finder of both law and fact in the case.
Defendant spent a great deal of money on the trial. Luckily for him, he could afford to do so, and the resulting buzz in the press and in the art world was good advertising for him. Prior to the litigation, Doig's paintings were selling for $5,000,000 to $15,000,000 each. I don't think the litigation will hurt him.
thanks, Mike. purely by accident, yesterday i caught a story on the verdict on bbc.com. my sister had sent me a link for something completely unrelated and the art story happened to be next in the queue.