Expert Opinions And Liabilities

Article by Judith Bresler and Stephanie Khalifa

The art expert does not render an opinion about the value or authorship of art without risk.

It is hardly news that fakes, forgeries and works of doubtful provenance, including World War II plunder, continue to proliferate in the United States art market. In addition, a number of antiquities and other artifacts, amid evolving judicial interpretation of the National Stolen Property Act, have been repatriated in recent years in the glare of the media. Accordingly, expert opinions become a crucial instrument in serving to rid the market of unwanted material. Moreover the art expert does not render an opinion about the value or authorship of art without risk: art experts have been sued, over the years, in disparagement, defamation, negligence, negligent misrepresentation and on various theories of fraud. As seen in the following case, however, fraud's legal requisites generally defeat the litigious plaintiff. Collectors,