COLLECTOR CHALLENGES LA MOCA AND LOUIS VUITTON

The Los Angeles–based art collector Clint Arthur is waging a lonely court battle against Louis Vuitton and the Museum of Contemporary Art, reports Mike Boehm for the Los Angeles Times. Arthur claims that for years, LA MoCA ignored the buyer protections mandated by California’s Fine Prints Act, and that Louis Vuitton did likewise during the four months it was allowed to set up shop in the heart of LA MoCA’s 2007–2008 exhibition of the Japanese Pop artist Takashi Murakami. Given that Louis Vuitton has indicated in court filings that it was ignorant of the Fine Prints Act and violated some of its provisions, Arthur wonders what is keeping some powerful allies from jumping in: The law, which has been on the books since 1970, specifically allows the state attorney general, local city attorneys, and district attorneys to bring civil suits and collect up to one thousand dollars per violation. Since Louis Vuitton had five hundred Murakami prints for sale, that could be as much as five hundred thousand dollars. “I would think that the city and state coffers could use that money at this juncture in time,” says Arthur.