Suit Dismissed Leaving Over 400 Million in Art to a Dallas Museum

The 5th Circuit ruled that son of philanthropist Wendy Russell Reves, Arnold Schroeder’s, claim for the transfer of over $400 million worth of artwork from a museum was dismissed with prejudice. The art collection originally belonged to Emery Reves. Wendy inherited from her husband. The collection includes masterpieces by Van Gogh, Manet, Cezanne, and others. According to the opinion, Schroeder brought a cause of action for constructive fraud against each defendant but did not offer a ‘cognizable claim for relief under Texas law’. Additionally, the court held Schroeder did not have sufficient facts to show that the defendants owed a duty to Schroeder. He also claimed that the Dallas Museum of Art and it’s board members took advantage of his mother’s condition before she died in France to acquire her art collection for the museum. 


Moreover, Schroeder alleges that board members ‘schemed to strip away these legal protections and asked Wendy to sign various documents to execute a series of sham transfers that purported to move the collection’ to evade a French law that would have benefited Schroeder’s inheritance. Schroeder claims that the defendants created the Wendy and Emery Reves Foundation in Texas to accomplish this. Following the entity’s creation, the defendants convinced his mother to sign an agreement between the organization and the museum allowing the donation to occur. Once the foundation received the artwork, the Texas entity was dissolved. The collection evaded French taxes that were as high as 60%. According to the law firm representing the Dallas museum, this litigation was a result of Schroeder’s unhappiness with the results of his earlier lawsuit in French court for his mother’s mansion. The suit failed and now Scroeder is re-litigating his claims hoping for a different outcome.

See David Lee, Philanthropist’s Heir Won’t Get Art Collection, Courthouse News Service, Mar. 1, 2013.