Firestone & Parson v. Union League of Philadelphia

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

FULLAM, Chief Judge.

For many years, the defendant, the Union League of Philadelphia, was the owner of an oil painting, the Bombardment of Fort Sumter, which was generally regarded in art circles as being a major work of a renowned American landscape artist, Albert Bierstadt. On August 31, 1981, plaintiffs purchased that painting from the defendant for $500,000. At that time, the parties all believed, and the defendant allegedly represented, that the painting was indeed the work of Bierstadt.

In the spring of 1985, however, some art historians began to express doubts about…