Property Owner Sued for Removing Graffiti

Property Owner Sued for Removing Graffiti

Property rights are the keystone of a free society. Remove them and everything else collapses into tyranny and insanity:

A federal jury in New York on Tuesday awarded thousands of dollars in damages to graffiti artists whose work was whitewashed under order of a real estate developer who owned the building they painted on. …

Plaintiffs’ attorney Eric Baum of Eisenberg & Baum accused [property owner Jerry] Wolkoff of destroying art that was protected under the obscure Visual Artists Rights Act by whitewashing it without warning overnight.

Wolkoff had probably never heard of the Visual Artists Rights Act. No matter; it takes precedence over his property rights.

“We know that ignorance of a law is no excuse for violating it,” Baum said in his closing argument Monday. …

Amounts awarded by the jury varied widely, from $750 to $80,000.

I wonder how Baum would feel if he woke up from a deep sleep to find a tattoo artist’s creation spread across his face, and a note stapled to his ear reminding him that if he tries to remove the tattoo, he could be sued for a fortune.

On a tip from rpp618. Cross-posted at Moonbattery.

Share this!

Enjoy reading? Share it with your friends!