On July 13, Dr. Philip Weintraub, d/b/a/Blast from the Past Antiques filed a lawsuit against Sotheby’s, alleging breach of contract, negligence, and gross negligence.
The lawsuit stems from four objects Dr. Weintraub consigned to Sotheby’s for the firm’s Americana sale on January 23 in New York City. The suit claims Sotheby’s owes Dr. Weintraub $32,820.
According to the lawsuit, Dr. Weintraub consigned a Federal inlaid mahogany tall-case clock, a Queen Anne figured mahogany tray-top table, a pair of American silver five-light candelabra, and a Chippendale carved and figured mahogany dish-top tilt bird-cage tea table, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, circa 1765, for the January 23 Americana sale.
According to Dr. Weintraub, the consignment agreement states that payment by Sotheby’s “will be made only to you in accordance with the payment instructions you will provide in a form satisfactory to us.” The suit states “Sotheby’s remitted the Net Sale Proceeds without first obtaining any payment instructions from Plaintiff.”
Sotheby’s, court papers allege, wired the sum of $32,820 to a bank account that Dr. Weintraub “never designated, in direct violation of the Agreement.”
Dr. Weintraub alleges that “promptly upon discovering that Sotheby’s had misdirected” the proceeds, he provided Sotheby’s with banking instructions designating the account to which the Net Sale Proceeds were to be remitted, and demanded immediate payment.
Dr. Weintraub alleges he “made multiple good-faith attempts to resolve this matter, including repeated written communications to Sotheby’s requesting clarification and immediate payment of the amounts due, and a formal written demand transmitted through counsel enclosing updated wire instructions.”
Sotheby’s filed a motion to dismiss on August 3, and tells a much different story. The complaint “is nothing more than a disingenuous attempt to ‘double dip’ and collect payment from Sotheby’s twice for the sale of the same property,” a filing by Sotheby’s attorney Paul Cossu reads. Further, the motion to dismiss states that the complaint’s assertion that Sotheby’s wired Weintraub’s money to a bank account that Weintraub never designated “is an outright lie.”
Since 2021, Sotheby’s has been paying Weintraub “in the exact same manner and to the exact same account,” the auction house argues. At no time since 2021, Sotheby’s claims, did Weintraub “direct Sotheby’s to wire the Net Sale Proceeds to a different account or to make payment via a different method.” Sotheby’s claims shortly after the proceeds were wired to Weintraub, he acknowledged receipt of the proceeds.
Sotheby’s states Weintraub’s grievance relates “to the fact that he and Bank of America ‘are in a dispute’ and that a small portion of the Net Sale Proceeds were ‘set-off’ as a result of that dispute. That is not Sotheby’s problem, and it does not give rise to a cause of action against Sotheby’s.”
According to court papers, Weintraub emailed Sotheby’s on March 13 stating “Bank of America and I are in a dispute and when your funds landed in their account, they without hesitation, set-off $5000 of that deposit for themselves.”
An affidavit from Aimee Scillieri, a Sotheby’s attorney, states that Weintraub “did not dispute his receipt, and immediate control, over the remaining funds of $27,820.”
Originally published in the October 2026 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2026 Maine Antique Digest
