Knoedler Settles a Lawsuit

By PATRICIA COHEN

Knoedler & Company, the venerable art gallery that shut its doors last year, has settled one of three federal civil suits brought by former customers who charged that they were duped into spending millions for fakes. The details of the settlement between Knoedler, its former president Ann Freedman and the customer, Pierre Lagrange, over a $17 million painting attributed to Jackson Pollock are confidential. “Knoedler Gallery is pleased to have the matter resolved,” the gallery said in a statement. Ms. Freedman said through a spokeswoman that the suit had been “settled amicably.” Among the questions left unanswered is what will happen to the work itself, including whether it will become a possession of the defunct gallery, which is selling some of its remaining inventory at auction. The work, known as “Silver Pollock,” is one of a group of paintings handled by Knoedler that came from a Long Island dealer, Glafira Rosale s, who is now a target of a federal investigation, according to court records. Ms. Freedman's lawyer, Nicholas Gravante Jr., said in a letter Friday to the judge who is presiding over all the civil cases that this settlement had “changed the landscape” and asked to put the two other lawsuits on hold.if we run out of space can trim from here-em One of those suits was brought by John D. Howard, a Wall Street executive, over a $4 million painting attributed to Willem de Kooning; the second was filed by Domenico De Sole, the chairman of Tom Ford's fashion firm, and his wife, Eleanore, over a $8.3 million work attributed to Mark Rothko. John Cahill, Mr. Howard's lawyer, said he was encouraged by the settlement. “My inference is that somebody wrote a pretty big check,” he said. Knoedler's lawyer, Charles D. Schmerler, said, “We plan to continue to vigorously litigate the De Sole and Howard lawsuits.”