Dragon 8 drops Downey lawsuit

Hong Kong auction house Dragon 8 has said it has dropped its defamation lawsuit against authentication expert Maureen Downey.

In an email to the drinks business, Dragon 8 founder, Gil Lempert-Schwarz, (pictured) said: “We have decided to file a dismissal of the lawsuit against Ms. Downey without prejudice. When proceeding with a serious defamation case of this nature, one has to weigh the costs of the process, the considerable time involved, and the potential award for the damages caused.

“Upon our investigation, we find it likely that zero funds are available to the defendant to pay for any judgment against her. We have therefore chosen not to pursue this matter any further at this point in time. However, we do not waiver in our original claims of defamation and we remain firmly committed to our business and our clients.”

Downey was threatened with the lawsuit late last year in the wake of Dragon 8’s first auction, which was plagued by accusations of fabricated provenance and fakes.

Dragon 8 claimed that after the November auction, Downey made “false, defamatory, disparaging and highly damaging” statements about Lempert-Schwarz and its business.

Although the lawsuit was filed in Las Vegas towards the end of last year Downey was never actually served. Downey and her legal team motioned to move the suit to a federal court as a more “appropriate” venue to hear the complaint due to the two parties living and working in different states (Downey in California and Lempert-Schwarz in Nevada), after which Lempert-Schwarz and Dragon 8 reportedly dropped the suit.

The full version of the story including Downey’s comment can be found here.

Downey was been contacted for comment but was not immediately available when this article was first published.

Update: This article has been modified since its original publication.