The trial between Ronald Perelman and a group of insurers, including Lloyd’s of London, American International Group and Chubb, opened in early June 2025 to the Supreme Court of New York State. The dispute relates to the request for compensation for the businessman for an amount of 400 million euros for damage suffered by five works of art, including a Andy Warhol, a Cy Twombly and an Edward Ruscha, compensation refused by insurers. These works were said to have been damaged during a fire in September 2018 in his Hamptons property next to New York.
After a first compensation of 120 million euros paid in 2019 for visibly damaged works, Perelman had requested compensation in 2020 for five other tables whose alteration is not visible to the naked eye. He relies on the analysis of Jennifer Mass, a chemist and scientist specializing in works of art, which claims to have detected molecular and structural changes linked to exposure to heat and smoke.
Insurers dispute this interpretation. They believe that the works targeted have not undergone any physical damage, a condition required by the contracts to trigger the warranty. They also argue that the works were in protective boxes far from the fire household. They call into question the reliability of the scientific conclusions presented by the lawyer of Perelman and underline that certain works were then proposed for sale, which would contradict, according to them, the argument of significant alteration.
The trial is largely based on the contractual definition of the concept of “physical loss” in a context where insurance contracts for very high values art works allow compensation on the basis of the value guaranteed, regardless of market value: 87 million euros against 11 million euros for warhol. The expected judgment must determine whether invisible chemical deterioration may be considered as material damage to compensation.
This dispute comes as Ron Perelman, a former billionaire very active in the art market, has seen his fortune considerably decrease in recent years. He sold a significant part of his collection after 2020 (for nearly a billion dollars (around 920 million euros)) in particular following the bankruptcy of the Revlon beauty products company in 2022, of which he was the main shareholder. Insurers suspect Perelman of wanting to get back on their backs.
The other insurers carefully observe this file which could create an unfavorable precedent in the event of enlargement of the compensation perimeter.
