Art titan Larry Gagosian missed a crucial court appearance last week because his calendar was just too packed, according to court papers.
Gagosian is being sued by 93-year-old art collector Jan Cowles for more than $14 million after her son, Charles, allegedly sold Gagosian a piece from Roy Lichtenstein’s “Girl in Mirror” series without her permission. Gagosian in turn, sold the piece to a buyer for $2 million, though it was allegedly worth $4.5 million.
The lawsuit was filed in January, but Gagosian was due in court on Sept. 11 to give a deposition. But his lawyers filed a last minute motion to push the deposition because Gagosian had “unexpected business needs would necessitate a short adjournment.”
Gagosian’s lawyer, Brian Dunefsky, wrote in a letter to Judge Charles Ramos of the Supreme Court of New York, that the art dealer had “three art shows . . . that were scheduled to open at Mr. Gagosian’s galleries during the week of Sept. 10 and require his attendance.”
Dunekfsy, proposing a new court date of Oct 4. also said that on Sept. 10, Gagosian was to attend “an extremely important industry luncheon hosted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to honor the works of Andy Warhol.”
Meanwhile, Cowles’ lawyer, David Baum of SNR Denton, submitted depositions by Deborah McLeod, the senior director of Gagosian’s Los Angeles gallery, and John Good, a former Gagosian employee, that claim Gagosian’s colleagues had indulged in “unlawful” business practices, including “acting as a dual agent for both the buyer and the seller on the same sales transaction — even without disclosing the dual agency to either the buyer or seller.”
A rep for Gagosian called Baum’s summation of the Gagosian employee’s testimony “baseless,” and asked that it be stricken from court records.
Baum told us: “We look forward to Larry’s deposition in the near future.”