Art Authenticator’s Case Against Art F City’s Paddy Johnson and Others Dismissed

by The AFC Staff on August 6, 2013 · 4 comments Newswire

Peter Paul Biro via The New Yorker

The Southern District of New York, in an opinion written by Judge J. Paul Oetken, has dismissed a claim for defamation by Peter Paul Biro against Art F City’s Paddy Johnson. The blog post cited in Biro’s complaint had quoted passages from a David Grann article originally published in the New Yorker.

The Court ruled that Biro was a limited purpose public figure and that he had not sufficiently pled actual malice, which requires “deliberate or reckless falsification,” as against Paddy Johnson. The Court explained that AFC’s refusal to retract the blog post was insufficient in this context to plead actual malice and additionally stated:

The claim that Paddy Johnson acted with actual malice is particularly implausible, given that, as the Johnson Article itself notes, she published a piece before the publication of the Grann Article that implicitly credited Biro’s work. […] Given the New Yorker’s reputation and the nature of the Grann Article, it is far more likely that the Grann Article caused Johnson to reevaluate her opinion of Biro than that the Johnson Article contains content that she knew to be, or believed might well be, false.

The Court also ruled that Biro failed to state a claim against Advance Magazine Publishers, Inc. and David Grann, as well as against other defendants.

When asked about the ruling Paddy Johnson told AFC offices, “I’m very happy.”

{ 4 comments }

charlesrkiss August 6, 2013 at 4:20 pm

I can’t believe you have to deal with this kinda crap.

friendship person August 6, 2013 at 5:41 pm

she is hungry and looking for some cookie crumbs she dropped on her painting

Apelles1 August 9, 2013 at 5:51 pm

But it’s been validated by the New Yorker ! Look at the photo credit.

Hans August 9, 2013 at 5:35 am

Concerning Paul Biro, just look at some simple facts:

1.
Biro has never been educated to be a fingerprint
expert

2.
Biro is not registered as a fingerprint expert

In other words Biro is a self-proclaimed finger print expert

Most troubling Biro does not act as an expert or scientist.

The golden rule in science is if you make a “discovery” you
publish that discovery and allow other experts to peer review your work. No one
has ever peer reviewed Biro his work. He has made some claim that Canadian
experts had peer reviewed his work but no report has ever been seen.

Biro just wants the world to believe his blue eyes: “hey
world I made an incredible discovery, no one has to double check my work
because I am that good”

A friend of mine who owns a possible Munch painting hired
Biro years ago for fingerprint analysis. Biro came back with a report (after
repeatedly asking for money) that he found a match! How exiting. My friend at
that time had become suspicious of Biro and when he received Biro his report he
had it peer reviewed by two other registered! Fingerprint experts. Both experts
disagreed with Biro as a matter of fact both reports showed that it wasn’t even
the correct finger..

Biro keeps blogging about how he wants to clean up the “art
world” he should start by cleaning up him self.

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