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"Christie's notified Weiss's representatives and his art agent that all was well"

By Intellectual Property Law, Esq.

I took a look at the complaint in the Christie's withdrawn-guarantee lawsuit. Here's the timeline it presents:

• July 23: Christie's top execs meet with Weiss to discuss the work.
• July 28: Christie's memorializes its offer in writing.
• "Late July": Weiss accepts the offer and informs Sotheby's he is "going with Christie's."
• August 7: Christie's takes possession of the work. Here the complaint alleges that, before turning over the work, Weiss "sought reassurance from Christie's that there was an agreed upon deal" and Christie's honorary chairman Christopher Burge "assured Weiss that Christie's standard operating procedure was to come to an agreement on the terms of the deal just as the parties had done, and that 'papering' the parties' agreement was a mere formality."
• August 26: Christie's sends a consignment agreement, including the $40 million guarantee. Weiss's lawyers send back some comments.
• September 11: Christie's sends a revised agreement, in both a black-lined form and "a clean copy that is ready for signature" (the complaint puts that in quotes; I assume it was taken from Christie's cover letter).
• September 16: Weiss signs the agreement and faxes it to Christie's.
• September 18: Christie's requests the original counterparts.
• September 23: The original counterparts are delivered to Christie's.
• September 24: Christie's informs Weiss that it will not honor the guarantee.
• November 12: The work fails to sell at auction.

Full post as published by The Art Law Blog on March 30, 2009 (boomark / email).