By Jennie Miller
C & G Staff Writer

SOUTHFIELD — A lawsuit has been filed in Oakland County Circuit Court against Park West Galleries Inc., owner Albert Scaglione, gallery director Morris Shapiro and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., with 10 plaintiffs accusing the gallery of fraud.

Park West Gallery, located at 29469 Northwestern Highway in Southfield, celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2008 and has 63,000 square feet of gallery space and a successful auction program on several major cruise lines.

“They found that to be a very lucrative way of selling art,” said Don L. Payton, an attorney with Kaufman, Payton and Chapa in Farmington Hills, which is representing the 10 plaintiffs in the lawsuit, along with the company Fine Art Registry as a defendant in a suit filed last year by Park West Gallery.

“Park West started the ball rolling by suing Fine Art Registry for defamation — that case is pending,” Payton said Tuesday. The company, which investigates art dealers online, began to receive complaints from people who had purchased art from Park West that they were assured was authentic, but that the people claim turned out to be fake.

“What they told my clients was that they were buying something real and original, and it just wasn’t,” Payton said. “None of them got what they paid for; none got what was represented to them.”

Park West calls the lawsuit “malicious” and without merit.

“Over the last 40 years, Park West Gallery has served more than 1.2 million satisfied clients through our gallery sales, as well as our land and sea auctions,” reads a statement issued by the gallery on Wednesday. “We stand behind the authenticity of everything we sell, including the works of art involved in this meritless lawsuit.” 

The gallery claims the lawsuit is simply a marketing ploy.

The assertions made are false, malicious and organized by and intended to advance the business interests of the Internet site, Fine Art Registry and art dealers of questionable integrity, known to have a vested interest in discrediting the Park West collection of fine art,” the statement continued. “In April 2008, we took legal action in Michigan and Florida against Fine Art Registry for defamation, tortious interference, interference with prospective business advantage, and civil conspiracy. It is regrettable that Park West Gallery clients have been brought into this scheme by this reckless organization. We are confident that we will prevail in the legal actions we have initiated against Fine Art Registry and its surrogates in defense of our hard-earned reputation, as well as this baseless suit brought against us.”

The plaintiffs include a Farmington Hills couple, and residents of North Carolina, Hawaii, California, and London, England. The counts include violation of Michigan’s Warranty in Fine Arts Statute, fraud, violation of the Michigan Consumer Protection Act, breach of contract, violation of the Michigan Art Multiples Sales Act, negligent misrepresentation, conspiracy, and unjust enrichment, according to the lawsuit filed Dec. 18.

“What we’re seeking is not necessarily what they paid for (the art), but what our clients would have received if it was supposedly worth what they said (the art) was worth,” Payton said.

Scaglione was a NASA researcher before scrapping his career to go into the art dealing business. He and his wife, Mitsie, created the Park West Gallery Foundation in 2006, which has made numerous financial and fine art contributions to charitable, educational and nonprofit organizations in the years since.

For more information about the gallery, visit www.parkwestgallery.com or call (248) 354-2343.