Mandarin Trading Ltd. v. Guy Wildenstein

Summary

The Court of Appeals, unanimously affirming, upheld pre-discovery dismissal of Mandarin Trading Ltd.'s suit against art expert Guy Wildenstein arising from its $11.3 million purchase of a Gauguin painting that Wildenstein had appraised at $15-$17 million and that failed to sell at Christie's $12 million reserve. Affording the pleadings their liberal construction and every favorable inference, the court held the fraud claim deficient because the appraisal letter was nonactionable opinion and no fiduciary duty to disclose Wildenstein's alleged ownership interest was pleaded; the negligent misrepresentation claim lacked any special or privity-like relationship; the third-party beneficiary contract claim omitted the purported appraisal agreement's salient terms; and the unjust enrichment claim foundered on the too-attenuated connection between the parties.