Moore to Come

In my initial post on the University of Alabama's lawsuit against sports artist Daniel Moore, I said: "I make Moore a two-touchdown favorite to win." Well, three years (and several judges) later, Moore has won at the district court level. In granting his motion for summary judgment, however, the court made it very clear that "this court is a way station on the route to appellate court(s)" and said it would certify its rulings for immediate appeal under Rule 54(b).

Mo(o)re from the Tuscaloosa News here.

Deaccessioning Quote of the Day

From Crispin Sartwell (reacting to this piece by Peter Brooks in the NYRB):

"for example, the metropolitan museum says that it possesses 5 million objects. now how many of these are on display? 20,000? so in what sense is the work 'viewable'? it's like - correction: it is - a massive bunker of art, a miser with a stashed hoard of useless gold. the point isn't to display the art; it's to segregate it or insulate it, to assert its priceless uniqueness by, um, burying it forever etc."

"We can all be fooled, and this man fooled me"

"The FBI is investigating allegations that William Toye, 78, and his wife Beryl Ann, 68, have been selling forged paintings to unsuspecting art collectors and dealers since the 1970s."

The investigation concerns the work of outsider artist Clementine Hunter.

"Heiress fights dad's bequest to the arts"

From the UPI: "The daughter of a late Texas oil pioneer claims lawyers coerced her father into cutting her share of his estate and convinced him to give it to charity instead. Curry Glassell ... claims in a lawsuit her father, Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp. founder Alfred C. Glassell -- who died at age 95 in 2008 -- was sick and possibly demented when he changed his will at age 87 to give more to Houston arts. She alleges lawyers for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, pushed him to make the change."

More from the Houston Chronicle here.

Latest from the Art Loss Register

Here.

Fairey's New Lawyers

Shepard Fairey has a new legal team in place for his lawsuit with the AP. (The change was occasioned by this.)

Oerheard in the Hall

Defendant: I want to have a plea agreement and probation.

Lawyer: That's not what the Commonwealth is offering. They're offering 6 years and 2 months with 6 years suspended. That's two months in jail.

Defendant: But I want a plea agreement with probation.

Lawyer: Look, you can plead straight guilty and get sentenced by the judge. You can plead not guilty and have a trial by judge or jury. Or, you can take the Commonwealth's offered plea agreement. 2 months.

Defendant: I'll plead guilty if I get a probation plea agreement.

Lawyer: That's not what the Commonwealth is offering.

Defendant: But it's only stealing and I ain't got anything else on my record.

Lawyer: It's 8 different charges of grand larceny on 8 different days. They're not going to offer you probation.

Defendant: But, . . .