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Case Summary
Goodman & Gutmann v. Searle
Goodman v. Searle, No. 96-cv-5310, slip op. (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 24, 1996) (transferring case from New York to Illinois); denying summ. j., No. 96-C-6459, slip op. (N.D. Ill. 1998).
Précis
This highly publicized ownership dispute over a monotype pastel entitled Landscape with Smokestacks by Edgar Degas, which had belonged to Friedrich and Louise Gutmann, art collectors in the Netherlands, prior to World War II, was settled in 1998 in a Solomon-like manner on the eve of trial by effectively splitting the ownership in half. Daniel Searle, the current owner who claimed to be a
good faith purchaser
One who buys something for value without notice of another's claim to the property and without actual or constructive notice of any defects in or infirmities, claims, or equities against the seller's title; one who has in good faith paid valuable consideration for property without notice of prior adverse claims (Black’s Law Dictionary (8th ed. 2004)).
good faith purchaser, donated . . . .
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