Lawsuits

Artist’s lawsuit against school that sought to cover up his murals heads to appeals court

A district court sided with the school in late 2021, but artist Sam Kerson hopes an appeals court decision will help keep his Underground Railroad murals on view

Was Van Gogh's olive grove landscape another Nazi-era 'forced sale'?

We uncover the tangled tale of the painting controversially sold off by New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1972 and now in an Athens museum

Detroit Institute of Arts ordered to keep Van Gogh painting as lawsuit over its ownership heads to appeals court

A judge had previously dismissed the lawsuit brought against the Michigan museum in a dispute over the canvas “The Novel Reader”

Jewish collectors’ heirs sue the Guggenheim for return of Blue Period Picasso

The heirs of Karl and Rosi Adler claim “Woman Ironing (La repasseuse)” (1904) was sold under duress by the fleeing couple and are seeking its return—or as much as $200m in compensation

Peter Doig awarded $2.5m in sanctions following legal saga over prison painting

The lawsuit centred on the authorship of a desert landscape painting signed “Pete Doige” and created by an inmate at a Canadian prison

Van Gogh's Tokyo Sunflowers: Was it a Nazi forced sale? And is the painting now worth $250m?

Bought for a Japanese museum in 1987, the masterpiece has just been claimed by the heirs of a Jewish Berlin banker

Did the Metropolitan Museum cover up its acquisition of a Nazi-looted Van Gogh? A new lawsuit alleges so

The heirs of a Jewish collector who fled Germany in the 1930s claim that well-documented provenance issues with the painting “La cueillette des olives” have been overlooked by the museum and the Greek foundation that now owns it

Seeking return of Van Gogh Sunflowers painting sold under Nazi coercion, German Jewish banker's heirs sue Japanese insurance company

The banker's heirs claim that the current owner, which bought "Sunflowers" for a then-record $39.9m at Christie's in 1987, ignored the painting's provenance issues

Madonna, Justin Bieber, Paris Hilton and others accused of fraud in star-studded NFT lawsuit

Many A-list celebrities have been accused of neglecting to disclose compensation for endorsing Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs

London dealer cleared over negligent sale of a Chardin painting

A court has ruled that Simon Dickinson, who advised a British aristocrat to sell an 18th-century French masterpiece for a fraction of what it later sold for, did not deliberately undervalue the painting

US campaign group sues Smithsonian over return of Benin Bronzes to Nigeria

Restitution Study Group have lost their first legal battle but insist the case is still pending

MoMA trustee Leon Black accused of rape

A lawsuit claims that the billionaire sexually assaulted a woman in Jeffrey Epstein's New York mansion

Qatari sheikh wins £4.2m lawsuit against prominent London dealer John Eskenazi

While the judge decided the defendant sold the works in good faith, he ruled that all seven objects purchased by the sheikh are fakes

Major insurance claims spark questions over ‘damaged art’

A spate of recent high-profile cases demonstrate ongoing challenges for the sector

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More artists leave König gallery amid 'sexual misconduct' allegations against its founder Johann König

Monica Bonvicini's departure from the gallery's roster is one of many in recent months

Crime news

Suspected Old Master forger Giuliano Ruffini—wanted by French police—cannot be found

The French dealer, who is under investigation for selling a series of allegedly forged paintings, has had a warrant out for his arrest since 2019

Ye must pay: Miami art space sues artist formerly known as Kanye West for overdue rent

Surface Area, an art and retail showroom in Miami’s Design District, says the embattled artist owes $145,813 for a month-long rental

Paris court dismisses bribery charges brought against Marlborough Gallery, French curator and artist’s family

The charges, brought ten years ago by a rival gallerist, revolved around allegations that a curator at France’s national museum of Asian art had received favours in exchange for organising a Chu Teh-Chun exhibition

US court dismisses Nazi-era Guelph Treasure restitution claim

The heirs of Jewish dealers, who allegedly sold the medieval collection to the Prussian government under duress due to Nazi persecution, may appeal the ruling

New York Attorney General's investigation into Sotheby's alleged tax fraud widens

Letitia James's office is seeking information on more than 50 collectors related to a 2020 lawsuit against the auction house

Netflix sued for defamation by writer depicted in Anna Delvey series

Rachel Williams, a friend of Anna Sorokin’s who ultimately assisted authorities in having her arrested, claims ‘Inventing Anna’ is a “hatchet job”

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne and estranged husband Tom Girardi’s art collection up for sale in court-ordered auction

Works by Miro, Hockney and Glenna Goodacre are among those being sold to pay off creditors as couple face allegations of embezzlement

Battle over Henry Darger’s legacy escalates as artist’s estate sues landlords who saved his work

Representatives of the artist’s estate are suing Darger’s longtime landlords, who brought his work to light after his death, for copyright infringement

Divorce dispute over Jackson Pollock collage returns to court

The fate of the work, valued at around $175,000, can now be determined independently from the high-profile divorce of a former Connecticut state senator and a Wall Street banker

Artists fail to win lawsuit over erased murals at San Francisco queer bar

The property owner has been cleared of whitewashing LGBTQ art works at the Stud Bar

Artist can take Maurizio Cattelan to court over banana work, says Florida judge

Joe Morford claims that the viral Comedian piece infringes copyright on his own duct tape work Banana & Orange

Photographer's abandoned Prince book at the root of a years-long legal dispute

Allen Beaulieu, who worked as Prince’s photographer during the musician’s formative years, wanted to produce a book of his best work from the era, but claims his collaborators had other plans

Paris court rejects wax sculptor’s claim he is the true creator of eight Maurizio Cattelan works

Daniel Druet, who created hyperrealist likenesses of Pope John Paul II, Hitler and others for Cattelan, was seeking €6m in compensation and to be declared the works’ “sole author”

‘No mere monkey business’: creators of Bored Apes NFTs sue artist Ryder Ripps for trademark infringement

The artist defended his series as “a protest against and parody of” the prized monkey illustrations

Peter Max saga continues, as his daughter struggles to gain guardianship of the dementia-stricken Pop artist

The artist has been the subject of legal complaints for years regarding both his business and personal care