Overview
On November 15, 2022, The New York Times published an article, “Did Five Paintings Lose Their ‘Oomph’? It’s a $410 Million Question.” The article discusses the insurance recovery litigation brought by billionaire Ronald O. Perelman for five paintings that he alleges were damaged by a 2018 attic fire in his 72-acre East Hampton estate.
Steptoe & Johnson LLP represents one of the three insurers being sued.
The article quotes Steptoe correspondence explaining that the five paintings were located on the ground floor of the estate, far from the attic where the fire broke out, were encased in “museum quality” protective plexiglass cases, did not “come into direct contact with either the fire or the water that was used to put out the fire,” and “sustained no visible damage from the fire.” The article quotes Mr. Perelman’s claims that after the works were returned to the estate, they didn’t “pop like [they] used to,” and lost their “oomph.”
The article also quotes Steptoe’s filings that question the alleged invisible “damage” the paintings allegedly suffered as well as Mr. Perelman’s motives for having first raised the claim nearly two years after the fire: “It is suspicious enough that Mr. Perelman waited so long to make his insurance claim . . . Adding yet more grounds for suspicion is the fact that Mr. Perelman’s belated ‘discovery’ of the damage happened to coincide with a time when he desperately needed to supply his businesses with cash.”
The full article can be read on The New York Times (subscription required).
