Bloomberg reports that the long simmering suit between Ronald Perelman and Gagosian Gallery will got to court on only one of the many points because the judge, Barbara Kapnick, doesn’t think she can rule on the issue of fraud:

“Plaintiffs allege that Gagosian has enormous power to influence, and even set, the markets for the artists he represents because of his impressive roster of artists and his access to and knowledge of the largest private art collections in the world,” Kapnick wrote. “Even though the plaintiffs are sophisticated art collectors and investors, the court cannot say, as a matter of law, that plaintiffs’ alleged reliance on defendants’ representations regarding the art market and intrinsic value of particular works of art was per se unreasonable or unjustified.”

“The court has affirmed that we have a valid fraud claim against Mr. Gagosian based on his unfair dominance of the art market,” Christine Taylor, a spokeswoman for Perelman, said in an e-mail.

“We are delighted that the judge summarily dismissed five of the six bogus claims that were put forth by Mr. Perelman,” Matthew S. Dontzin, an attorney for Gagosian, said in a telephone interview. “The judge felt that at this very early stage she could not accept the documentary proof we put forward destroying any evidence of fraud and we look forward to the day when those documents can be considered by the court.”

Perelman Fraud Claim Against Gagosian Will Go Forward (Bloomberg)