The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago has affirmed a $2.5 million sanctions ruling in favor of renowned artist Peter Doig, marking the latest chapter in a more than decade-long legal battle over a painting that Doig has consistently denied creating. The appellate court's decision upholds a lower court's determination that the plaintiffs pursued a meritless lawsuit against the artist despite overwhelming evidence that he did not paint the disputed work.
In December 2022, a federal district court had ordered a Chicago art gallery and other parties to pay $2.5 million in sanctions to Doig after they brought a lawsuit against the artist years earlier, falsely accusing him of creating a painting that he was subsequently able to prove he did not make. The recent appellate ruling rejected an appeal filed by attorney William Zieske on behalf of Robert Fletcher, the painting's owner, and Chicago's Bartlow Gallery, which Fletcher had approached to help sell the artwork.
The controversial case centers around a desert landscape painting that Fletcher, a retired Canadian prison officer, purchased in the 1970s from an inmate at Thunder Bay Correctional Center for $100. Fletcher claimed the inmate was Peter Doig, but the artist vehemently denied painting the work. Doig's denial was supported by compelling evidence showing that he was never incarcerated in Canada and was actually a teenager living with his parents in Toronto in 1976. Additionally, the painting was signed and dated "Peter Doige, 76" by a man who, according to Doig's legal team, died in 2012.
Fletcher first attempted to sue Doig in 2013, claiming that the artist's disavowal of the work had significantly devalued the painting, which Fletcher had planned to sell at auction. The case proceeded to trial in 2016, with Fletcher seeking $7.9 million in damages and demanding that the court authenticate the painting as a genuine Doig work. However, after an eight-day trial during which Doig himself was called to testify, Chicago federal judge Gary Feinerman ruled definitively that Doig absolutely did not paint the disputed work, determining instead that it was created by a different person named Peter Edward Doige.
Following that decisive ruling, Doig filed a motion for sanctions against the plaintiffs. In December 2022, Judge Feinerman awarded the substantial $2.5 million sanctions amount, making Fletcher, Bartlow Gallery, and attorney Zieske jointly and severally liable for the payment. Judge Feinerman stated that "by mid-2014, it should have become indisputably clear to Plaintiffs and [their counsel] that their claims stood no chance of success and, in fact, that the claims were factually meritless." He emphasized that they should not have continued pursuing the case, as "the complaint's central allegations had completely unraveled under the weight of contrary evidence."
Zieske's attempt to appeal both the sanctions order, which he claims he cannot afford to pay, and the court's denial of his motion to amend the sanctions award was firmly rejected last week. On July 29, the appellate court dismissed his case, with circuit judges Brennan, Kirsch, and Lee concluding that the federal district court had thoroughly considered each of Zieske's arguments that the fee was unreasonable, conducted its own independent review, and even reduced the requested fee amount by twenty percent. The judges found "no abuse of discretion in the district court's conclusions."
In a statement to The Art Newspaper, Doig's attorney Matthew S. Dontzin of Dontzin Kolbe & Fleissig, who filed the sanctions motion after winning the 2016 case, expressed satisfaction with the outcome. "We are grateful that the appellate court affirmed every aspect of the district court's ruling, supporting both artists' rights to defend their work and the damage caused when plainly frivolous suits are permitted to proceed," Dontzin said. He added that "few artists could have pursued this claim for almost a decade but Doig's determination and steadfast support from gallerist Gordon VeneKlasen [the co-owner of Michael Werner Gallery, by whom Doig was represented until he left in February 2023] made it possible to establish this precedent that will hopefully benefit all artists."
Doig's legal team has previously indicated that any money the artist receives as a result of this ruling will be donated to a nonprofit organization that provides incarcerated individuals with opportunities to create art. Zieske did not respond to requests for comment from The Art Newspaper regarding the appellate court's decision.
