Artist Ben Tritt Wins at Trial in Contract Dispute Regarding Bryant Park Installation

Paul, Weiss won a directed verdict on behalf of Brooklyn-based artist Ben Tritt, a pro bono client, following a five-day trial over a contract dispute in the New York Supreme Court.

Tritt mounted a large-scale outdoor art installation in Bryant Park in 2014. In 2020, he was sued by the “producer” of the installation, Jodi Kaplan, who claimed she was owed $200,000 under the parties’ contract. The parties’ dispute centered on two provisions of the contract, one of which stated that Kaplan’s fee was payable “if, and only if” sufficient project funds were raised, while another purported to guarantee her fee no matter what. Kaplan also claimed she was owed certain out-of-pocket expenses she incurred in connection with the Bryant Park installation.

On April 30, after five days of trial, and at the close of the plaintiff’s case, Paul, Weiss moved for a directed verdict on the ground that the two different provisions in the contract regarding her $200,000 fee were completely contradictory, and that any ambiguity as a result of that contradiction must be construed against Kaplan, who was the drafter of the contract. As for the out-of-pocket expenses, we argued that the contract didn’t address who should bear those expenses in the event that sufficient project funds were not raised to cover them, and that, in any event, Kaplan had not come forward with sufficient evidence of those expenses to meet her burden of proof. After hearing oral argument, Justice Lyle Frank granted the motion in full the following morning just before the parties were scheduled to deliver their closing statements.

The Paul, Weiss team included litigation counsel Darren Johnson, who argued the directed verdict motion, and Robert O’Loughlin, associates Sarah Prostko, Jeremy Atié, Casey Sandalow, Noah Cohen and Courtney Perales, and former associate Julie Han. The case was supervised by litigation partner Aidan Synnott.