Luxury items, including cars, can hold tremendous value and are sometimes held as long-term investments. In some cases, the price of a single vehicle can amount to six or even seven figures. Luxury items are similar to other movable property – such as fine art – in terms of legal protection, but possess their own unique set of problems. For instance, intellectual property, luxury taxes, and tariffs are all concerns, along with the usual commercial and contractual provisions that accompany their trade. New York law has specific provisions concerning the sale of motor vehicles that requires that certain information be included in purchase contracts in order for them to be valid and enforceable. The Statute of Frauds is also applicable to luxury car sales, in addition to the common law of contracts.
This summer, Amineddoleh & Associates successfully represented a client against a luxury car dealership after the latter misrepresented the price of a new Porsche worth half a million dollars. Our firm was able to recover our client’s funds and resolve the dispute over the span of a few short weeks. Notably, the dealership failed to comply with New York law, the Statute of Frauds, and common law by engaging in unfair business practices and failing to include legally-mandated information and documentation to our client. Thanks to the firm’s expertise, the dealership’s contract was voided, we prevailed, and our client got his money back – others have not been so fortunate.
When considering the purchase of a luxury car, buyers should be aware of potential pitfalls. The best way to ensure a successful transaction is to seek advice from legal counsel familiar with transactions for luxury vehicles. Amineddoleh & Associates can help buyers and collectors make the right decision when negotiating with car dealerships or other dealers of luxury items. When high-value items are on the line, a poorly-worded agreement can be the difference between successfully acquiring a coveted object or losing money as well as your intended purchase.
While the controversy between Greece and the UK over the ownership of the Parthenon marbles is not new, Greek artist Hellena recently found a creative way to protest the British Museum’s continued refusal to return these pieces to her homeland. Hellena, an accomplished singer, songwriter, director, and composer, currently resides in London and staged a peaceful music protest at the museum on June 20, 2019. The protest was timed to accompany the release of her single, “The Parthenon Marbles (bring them back),” and took in the Duveen Gallery where the marbles are displayed. She performed the song ten times to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the opening of the Acropolis Museum in Athens. Hellena, supported by the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, hopes to bring awareness to the issue and right the wrongs of the past through the reunification of the Parthenon after 200 years.
Previously, the British Museum cited Greece’s lack of proper infrastructure as justification for their refusal to return the marbles. Since the opening of the Acropolis Museum, however, this excuse has grown thin. This museum has replicas of the missing pieces juxtaposed with the remaining sculptures to highlight the contrast and serve as a physical and ever-present reminder of the country’s history as a victim of looting. Members of the international legal community – including barrister Amal Clooney – have rallied around Greece’s efforts to protect its cultural heritage. After all, the UK was involved in the taking of numerous antiquities during the colonial period. However, it is a sensitive and complex issue which may prove difficult to navigate through a straightforward restitution request in the courts.
Instead, Greece prefers to offer alternative solutions. On September 2, 2019, the British Museum stated that it will consider loaning the Parthenon marbles after Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stated that he is willing to lend never-before-seen artifacts to the UK in exchange. This is a marked change from the Museum Director’s earlier statement that Lord Elgin’s original removal of the marbles was a “creative act.” Mitsotakis has acknowledged that the sculptures form part of humanity’s shared heritage, but stresses that their proper place is at the Acropolis. Nonetheless, a precondition for the loan is the acceptance of the lending institution’s ownership, which poses a potentially insurmountable obstacle, as the Greek position concerning Elgin’s theft remains firm. France has proven more amenable to the loan agreement.
While Greece decided not to pursue judicial action in this particular instance, it is still vigilant when surveying the global art market for looted items and takes legal measures when necessary. Amineddoleh & Associates currently represents the Greek Cultural Ministry in a civil case before the federal courts in New York, concerning the acquisition of a bronze horse which originated in Greece. The case is ongoing and demonstrates the need to distinguish fine arts from antiquities in cultural heritage disputes. Greek law provides the government with a constitutional mandate to protect the nation’s cultural heritage, which is exclusively owned by the state and its people. Limiting its recourse to judicial action would have far-reaching consequences for this country as well as other foreign cultural ministries and agencies tracking and attempting to recover their cultural heritage in the US. On a more personal note, Hellena’s protest demonstrates how deeply this issue resonates with Greek citizens, and all those who see the need to return cultural heritage items to their places of origin. We at Amineddoleh & Associates are poised to assist in cultural heritage disputes as we fully understand the legal and non-legal nuances affecting restitution debates.
Wine fraud, or counterfeiting, takes
many forms and has become a billion-dollar problem worldwide. While purchasing
from reputable vendors or producers is relatively safe, the secondary market –
auctions, retailers, and brokers – is another matter. Counterfeits range from
refilling authentic wine bottles to making imaginary vintages and preying on
more inexperienced collectors. But even those who have participated in the
market for years are still at risk. Maureen Downey is an independent expert on
fine and rare wines, known as the “Sherlock Holmes of Wines.” She advises
consumers to be vigilant and perform
their due diligence when trusting buyers, even if they are friends: “Fraud
is fraud – no matter the medium.”
An interesting example of fraudulent
reselling of wines and spirits involves those damaged in floods and fires. Even
when salvage and insurance companies disclose the damage, this will be glossed
over in secondary transactions to maximize the rate of return. After Hurricane
Katrina, the market was flooded with high-end wine that appeared drinkable,
although in fact it had a very short shelf life and was not as robust as it was
originally. Sellers failed to disclose that the bottles were damaged. Downey
states that this type of fraud is rampant, particularly as profiteers dump
damaged wines on emerging markets. Also, counterfeit bottles usually end up
back in circulation. The bottles counterfeited and sold by Rudy
Kurniawan (one of the most notorious wine forgers who was eventually
indicted for fraud and is currently serving a 10-year prison term) and worth
hundreds of millions, for example, are still floating around. Meanwhile, sophisticated new
counterfeiters are targeting mid-range wines and recent vintages to sidestep
scrutiny.
But if these cases involve so much money and are clearly fraud, why are they not prosecuted more frequently? Victims of wine fraud are often ashamed that they fell victim to fraud, and they are afraid to confront counterfeiters, refusing to come forward and allow prosecution of the crime. Previously, the FBI had a dedicated agent assigned specifically to wine fraud cases, but the bureau determined it was a waste of resources since they could not depend on the victims’ cooperation.
However, there are still remedies
available for consumers and collectors. First, online resources such as https://www.winefraud.com/ allow potential buyers to educate
themselves and verify if their sellers are blacklisted. This is similar to
online art databases, where collectors can ascertain if their purchases were
stolen or looted. Second, the role of an authenticator – as in fine arts and
antiquities cases – is valuable. Experts
mitigate the risk of wine fraud and allow purchasers to ensure that they are
buying the real thing. After all, “Authenticating
a wine is like authenticating a work of art.”
Since
wine fraud cases can be extremely harmful to professional reputations, it is
important to find a trustworthy authenticator to verify purchases as well as a legal
team who can properly address this type of controversy. Amineddoleh &
Associates has a history of successful partnerships with authentication and
provenance experts of all kinds and can provide clients with the peace of mind
to not only drink their wine, but enjoy it too.
One of the firm’s associates,
Claudia S. Quiñones Vilá, recently had an article published in the peer-reviewed
journal Santander Art and Culture Law Review. Titled “Cultural Heritage in the
European Union: An Outsider’s Perspective,” this article explores recent trends
and developments in cultural property law within the EU, focusing particularly
on Italy and the United Kingdom. It also delineates the increasingly important
role of private parties and stakeholders in heritage protection, as well as the
need for holistic and specialized approaches to related problems. In essence,
the article traces the ongoing shift towards cultural property as a unique body
of law encompassing a wide variety of elements, including the art market and
the digital/creative industries, which are in turn impacted by global and
national economic, social, historical, and political forces. Utilizing a
greater range of resources – both people-based and otherwise – to address
outcomes rather than outputs of existing policy regulations leads to creative
solutions and fruitful partnerships.
Congratulations Claudia, we are proud of your research on international cultural heritage law issues! You can find a link to the article here: http://www.ejournals.eu/SAACLR/2018/2-2018/art/14278/
The modern Acropolis Museum with its glass walls giving way to view of the Acropolis and glass floor showcasing excavations underneath the building.
Today marks the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Acropolis Museum in Athens, Greece. The breathtaking museum was created to house every artifact found on the Acropolis and on the surrounding slopes, and it lies over the ruins of a part of Roman and early Byzantine Athens. The building was created to replace the former museum, in part to persuade the British Museum to return the Parthenon Marbles to Greece.
The Acropolis Museum is a truly impressive institution for many reasons, one being that many of the rooms of the museum afford views of the Acropolis. Incredibly, the dimensions of the Parthenon were incorporated into the museum’s structure. The top floor has the same cardinal orientation of the ancient temple on the Acropolis. The spacing of the columns of the Parthenon Hall is identical to the ancient temple, and the use of glass walls on all four exterior walls allows natural light to cascade over the Parthenon marbles as they do on the ancient temple. The 48 columns in the Parthenon Hall mark the outline of the ancient temple and form a colonnade for the long-awaited display of the relocated marbles.
Viewing artifacts from ancient Athens is incredible in the “New” Acropolis Museum (the name used for the museum when it was first opened a decade ago). However, even viewing the Parthenon Marbles in the original Acropolis Museum was incredible because Athens is their home. When I visited Greece for the first time (in 2006), I was enthralled. While in law school, I had read about the repatriation demands for the Parthenon Marbles, and I felt that the marbles ruthlessly hacked off the Acropolis should be returned to Greece. This fight is one of the reasons why I am an art and cultural heritage attorney. Reading about the debate convinced me that the Parthenon Marbles should be returned to their rightful home in Greece.
The debate concerning the return of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum to Greece is perhaps the most famous controversy over repatriation. The debate is a complex one that involves both legal and ethical considerations. The British Museum hides behind the assertion that the statute of limitations has expired for making a demand (although there was no international court in which to demand repatriation). The British institution also puts forth an emotionally charged argument that returning the marbles to Greece would lead to wide-scale returns that would tragically empty the world’s great encyclopedic museums. Neither of these arguments are valid: the passage of time is no excuse to hold these marbles captive; and the fear of returning stolen items to their homes does not justify their continued presence in London.
I had an opinion about the Parthenon Marbles prior to visiting Greece- the objects should be returned to Athens. However, visiting the Mediterranean nation reinforced my view. I became passionate about the return of the marbles after walking up the slopes of Athens to the Acropolis, viewing the marbles at the former museum, and then at the state-of-the-art Acropolis Museum with views of the most important site of Ancient Athens and perhaps the best known temple in the world.
Sadly, the marbles displayed in the British Museum can never be presented in the same dynamic context as in the Acropolis Museum. The Parthenon Marbles are now thousands of miles away from home, housed in a generic museum room, without a single window. The marbles are divorced from any of their original context while in London.
The Parthenon Marbles are not merely remnants of the past, but they are symbols of Ancient Athens and the modern nation of the Hellenic Republic. Amineddoleh & Associates LLC has the honor of representing the Greek Ministry of Culture in a pending litigation concerning a Corinthian bronze. And I personally have had the honor or presenting arguments in favor of the Marbles’ repatriation in various news outlets and conferences, either as a writer, participant or contributor. For links to some of these discussions, and for additional information about the Acropolis Museum, please visit the following: Forbes editorial, NY Times editorial, Hyperallergic editorial, Third Colloquy on the Return of the Parthenon Sculptures, and this blog.
