Tracking art lawsuits: The Urgent Matter database

Court filings and lawsuits have become one of the most consistent sources of real news in the art world. They show how museums, galleries and artists operate when money, rights and reputations are at stake and can reveal much more about art world disputes than the public would normally see.

This database is Urgent Matter’s ongoing record of art-world litigation. While it is not exhaustive, it gathers all lawsuits we have covered and verified through court filings and docket entries.

Each entry below includes the basic facts: who filed the case, where, when, and why, as well as a link to our most recent coverage on any particular case. Updates are added as the cases move through the courts, and entries are retained even when cases close.

This database exists because lawsuits are often the only public evidence of how the art world handles conflict and accountability. By tracking them in one place, it aims to make those processes visible.

Museum and Institutional Lawsuits

Norton Museum of Art v. Verity Partners

Filed October 21, 2025, U.S. Southern District Court of Florida

Status: Ongoing

Summary: The museum alleges Verity Partners withheld administrative control of its phone system following a contract dispute, forcing duplicative telecom costs. It seeks injunctive relief and damages. The museum has since filed an amended complaint, while Verity's lawyers have withdrawn over "irreconcilable differences." In December, the Norton Museum filed an amended complaint, adding new statutory and contract claims, as the company’s defense attorneys moved to withdraw from the case over “irreconcilable differences.”

[Withheld] v. Cleveland Institute of Art

Case Dismissed September 30, 2025, by the U.S. Southern District Court of the Northern District of Ohio

Status: Dismissed

Summary: A lawsuit filed by a former student who accused the Cleveland Institute of Art of mishandling her sexual assault allegations against a male student was dismissed on September 30, 2025, by a federal judge, who ruled that the art school adequately investigated and disciplined the male student.

Paul Crawford v. Penticton Art Gallery Society

Filed October 23, 2025, British Columbia Supreme Court in Penticton

Status: Ongoing

Summary: The Penticton Art Gallery is facing a lawsuit by its longtime curator, who was laid off by the nonprofit in August after 19 years serving the organization. Paul Crawford, the curator, alleges in the lawsuit that he was subject to “significant” bullying, as well as harassment and a toxic and dysfunctional workplace. The lawsuit centers on the legality of the layoff under his employment contract and whether it was intended to be permanent. Crawford considered the layoff a "constructive dismissal" while the gallery said it expected him to return to work in November.

Ty Warner v. Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History

Filed September 16, 2025, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

Status: Dismissed

Summary: Beanie Babies billionaire Ty Warner claimed the museum violated a 25-year naming-rights deal by removing his name from the Ty Warner Sea Center in 2014, halfway through the term, citing his 2013 tax-evasion conviction. He alleged that the museum kept his $1.5 million donation and later sought more than $50 million for a new naming opportunity. The case reflected growing scrutiny of donor agreements and how museums handle reputational issues tied to past benefactors. The case was dismissed in January 2026 after a judge found Warner’s claims expired seven years before the lawsuit was filed.

Andrea Kroksnes v. P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center

Filed October 28, 2025, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York

Status: Ongoing

Summary: Norwegian citizen Andrea Kroksnes filed a federal lawsuit against the Museum of Modern Art and its Queens affiliate, MoMA PS1, alleging negligence after a large wall-mounted sound panel fell and struck her while she was seated in a screening room during the 2022 exhibition "Jumana Manna: Middle Ghost." The complaint claims Kroksnes suffered an acute concussion and chronic post-concussion syndrome resulting in permanent disability, pain and mental anguish. She is seeking more than $150,000 in damages, plus additional relief, for alleged failures by both institutions to properly secure and supervise the installation.

Art Ownership and Possession Disputes

Yves Bouvier v. Pascal de Sarthe

This is a Hong Kong case. An application for judicial assistance was filed with a New York federal court on December 3, 2025.

Status: Ongoing

Summary: Art dealer Yves Bouvier has brought legal action against Hong Kong–based dealer Pascal de Sarthe, alleging that 91 artworks valued at approximately $100 million are missing after Bouvier entrusted them to de Sarthe for safekeeping and potential sale. According to Bouvier’s filings, the works were transferred to de Sarthe amid Bouvier’s broader disputes with Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, but were never returned and cannot be located.

The underlying ownership dispute is being litigated in Hong Kong, while Bouvier has also filed an application in the United States seeking court assistance to obtain records from banks and auction houses. He argues the materials could help trace the artworks or related proceeds. De Sarthe disputes Bouvier’s allegations and has argued that Bouvier is not the rightful owner of the artworks.

Beaux Arts Museum LLC v. Allan Baitcher

Filed November 21, 2025, in U.S. District Court for Northern District of Georgia

Status: Ongoing

Summary: A Florida collector has filed a $20 million lawsuit against an Atlanta antiques dealer who allegedly sold him fake artworks purported to have been made by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Salvador Dalí, Jackson Pollock and other artists. The lawsuit was filed by Beaux Arts Museum LLC, a company owned by 92-year-old collector Alvin Malnik, against dealer Allan Baitcher and his firm Peachtree Antiques. The complaint accuses Baitcher of racketeering and running an elaborate scheme that exploited a decades-long personal relationship.

Labor and Employment Cases

Sasha Suda v. The Philadelphia Museum of Art

Filed November 10, 2025, Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia

Status: Ongoing

Summary: Sasha Suda, the former director of the Philadelphia Art Museum, who was ousted earlier this month after the institution’s controversial rebrand, has filed a lawsuit claiming she was fired “without a valid basis.” Her filing details claims of board interference, “sham investigation,” and breach of contract. She is seeking damages “in an amount to be proven at trial” that would likely include two years of severance pay as promised in her contract, lost benefits, harm to reputation, and other financial losses caused by her alleged wrongful termination. In December 2025, she asked a Philadelphia judge to keep her case in court, where she seeks a jury trial. She argues that her employment contract explicitly allows court litigation, rather than private arbitration, when the museum violates its non-disparagement obligations.

Amanda Lea v. The Barstow School

Filed October 16, 2025, Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri

Status: Ongoing

Summary: A former art teacher at a private school in Kansas City has filed a lawsuit after she was purportedly fired for telling her students that far-right political activist Charlie Kirk was shot.

Racquel Chevremont v. Mickalene Thomas

Complaint filed October 27, 2025, New York Supreme Court

Status: Ongoing

Summary: Collector and curator Racquel Chevremont, who also starred in Real Housewives of New York, alleges that she was subjected to domestic violence, years of verbal abuse and financial exploitation by her ex-fiancée, the artist Mickalene Thomas. The bulk of the case serves as an interesting study in the business challenges artists can face when blending their personal and professional lives. It centers on allegations regarding their work together at MT Special Projects, a company they formed to handle their artistic collaborations.

Copyright and Intellectual Property

Stephen Thaler v. Shira Perlmutter

Petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court October 9, 2025

Status: Ongoing

Summary: Stephen Thaler has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his case stemming from his pursuit to receive copyright protections for the artwork A Recent Entrance to Paradise, which was created using artificial intelligence.

August Image v. AM:PM

Filed November 20, 2025, in U.S. District Court in New York

Status: Ongoing

Summary: The New York photo agency August has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of one of its photographers against art gallery AM:PM for alleged copyright infringement. The issue stems from a photograph of rapper Jay-Z, taken and owned by August photographer Timothy White. August has accused AM:PM of selling figurines called “Jaybois” using Jay-Z’s likeness during White’s photoshoot in violation of his copyright.

Justin Bua v. [Various Foreign Entities]

Filed November 19, 2025, in U.S. District Court for Northern District of Illinois

Status: Ongoing

Summary: The artist Justin Bua, known for his paintings of hip-hop culture and as an art-world media personality, has filed a federal copyright lawsuit against dozens of China-based online retailers. The lawsuit accused each of 50 listed internet stores and marketplace accounts based in China of selling bootleg products that violate his registered copyrights for his works Piano Man IV, The DJ 2 and Funk ‘N Groovin’.

Allan Salas v. Rod Wave

Filed December 11, 2025, in U.S. District Court for Central District of California

Status: Ongoing

Summary: The rapper known as Rod Wave is facing a federal copyright lawsuit over the use of a photograph for the cover of his 2024 album “Last Lap." Photographer Allan Salas filed the lawsuit against the rapper, whose legal name is Rodarius Marcell Green, in a federal court in California. The lawsuit said Salas expected his damages to exceed $150,000, citing the commercial success of the album and tour and alleging willful and bad-faith conduct. The dispute stems from a photograph Salas took of Green on August 24, 2024, while the rapper was performing at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. Salas was authorized to be at the arena to take photos of Green during this concert, but never transferred any rights and was never paid for the photograph used for the album cover, he alleged in the lawsuit. The album was then released with the photo used as the cover on October 11, 2024.

Auction Houses

Charles Cahn v. Sotheby's

Filed November 19, 2025, in New York Supreme Court

Status: Ongoing

Summary: A collector who bought a painting by Amedeo Modigliani from Sotheby’s in 2003 has filed a lawsuit after the auction house raised authenticity concerns in a 2016 appraisal and allegedly ignored his requests to resell it under a later agreement. Charles Cahn, the collector, filed the lawsuit last week in New York Supreme Court over Modigliani’s 1917 painting Portrait de Leopold Zborowski, which he purchased for nearly $1.6 million in 2003. But when Cahn sought an appraisal from Sotheby’s in 2016, the auction house itself said that the painting failed to satisfy certain criteria, putting its authenticity into question.

Logan Paul v. Heritage Auctions

Filed September 24, 2025, in Dallas County District Court

Status: Dismissed

Summary: YouTuber-turned-boxer Logan Paul has dropped a lawsuit he filed in September against Heritage Auctions, in which he claimed the auction house prevented him from evaluating the authenticity of an item signed by basketball legend Michael Jordan. But after the auction, Paul discovered “serious issues” with the accuracy of the item as described on Heritage’s website and filed suit the following month. He sought a temporary restraining order and injunction to prevent the Dallas-based auction house, also known for selling blue-chip art and historical artifacts, from returning the item to the consignor or selling it to another buyer until he could investigate its authenticity. Earlier this month, he moved to dismiss the lawsuit. It was not immediately clear why Paul had decided to drop his complaint.

Other

Amy Taylor v. Jamie Nelson

Filed December 22 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

Status: Ongoing

Summary: Australian punk singer Amy Taylor of Amyl and the Sniffers has filed a federal lawsuit in California against photographer Jamie Nelson, alleging the photographer improperly sold and promoted photos taken for a Vogue Portugal editorial as “fine art prints” and other commercial products without her permission. Taylor says she agreed to the shoot only for the magazine’s use, repeatedly rejected Nelson’s attempts to monetise the images, and has now sued for damages under publicity and trademark laws.