The Case of the Masterworks and the Art Expert

The art of the deal . . . The plastic surgeon to the stars . . . A new $10-million man

ARTFUL DEALINGS: The two paintings--one a Rembrandt--had long been thought lost or destroyed by the Nazis. But when the masterworks mysteriously surfaced for sale in late 1994, art expert Ernest J. T. Martin says he gladly answered the call to authenticate and help sell them.

Now Martin, who specializes in finding lost, missing or stolen art, has filed a lawsuit seeking $57.5 million in damages from the owners and a Glendale art broker who hired his company to authenticate the artworks and to help sell them.

According to the Pasadena Superior Court suit filed by attorney Richard L. Kellner, the owners backed out of the contract two years later and sold the paintings on their own. The suit alleges that Martin was defrauded of exclusive right to market the paintings after he authenticated them. He also alleges that he was cheated out of a promised 10% commission on the eventual $60-million sale.

The suit by Martin and his company, Artis Mundus Film Productions of La Canada Flintridge, also seeks repayment of $100,000 spent on X-rays, consultants and other expenses incurred while authenticating Rembrandt’s “The Baptism of Chamberlain” and Joseph M. W. Turner’s “Meeting of the Water.”

The suit also contends that the sellers’ agent, Glynda Andrews of Glendale, enticed Martin to cut his commission from the usual one-third by falsely promising the opportunity to authenticate works by Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet and other masters.

Andrews could not be reached for comment.

NIP & TUCK: Santa Monica plastic surgeon Steven Hoefflin is fighting back against accusations that he ridiculed and disrobed celebrity patients while they were out cold on the operating table.

Hoefflin is vehemently denying the accusations and circling the wagons, with stars such as Joan Rivers and “Incredible Hulk” Lou Ferrigno vouching for him. The doctor is launching a direct attack at the source of the allegations--a lawsuit.

The controversy began when the Washington Post two weeks ago published a story detailing a suit filed by four women who had worked for Hoefflin. Ever since, it has been widely reported.

Now, the chief weapon in the Plastic Surgeon to the Stars’ counterattack is a letter, dated June 13, 1996, which states that the suit was mistakenly filed because of “an internal secretarial misunderstanding” and withdrawn later on the same day.

“Upon further investigation, we have concluded that the allegations contained in the mistakenly filed complaint were without sufficient factual or legal basis,” states the letter, signed by attorneys Gregory W. Smith and Richard L. Garrigues.

The two lawyers had represented the four women, who now are maintaining their silence as the controversy swirls around their former boss.

In a related matter, a hearing is set Thursday regarding a motion by the California attorney general’s office seeking to compel the women’s testimony at a hearing before the state medical board.

Meanwhile, a spokesman says Hoefflin, who has retained noted litigator Patricia Glaser, expects to file defamation lawsuits against two of his former partners any day now. Smith said he could not comment on the letter.

LEGAL EXPOSURE: An appeals court has upheld a $7.3-million verdict in favor of a writer who sued MCA and Universal claiming that the studio stole the idea for the television series “Northern Exposure” from his original teleplay.

The ruling is significant for writers, attorney Glen Kulik said, because the court recognizes the impact a credit for a hit series can have on a writer’s career and future earnings.

Including interest, writer/producer Sandy Veith, who now lives in Florida, could receive nearly $10 million, Kulik said.

Veith sued Universal in Los Angeles Superior Court in 1993, alleging that his teleplay, “Colletta,” was strikingly similar to the CBS series that starred Rob Morrow and Janine Turner. Both scripts concerned ethnic New York doctors forced to repay medical school tuitions by serving for five years as small-town physicians in the boondocks.

Veith was under contract to Universal for several years, and the studio shopped “Colletta” to the networks.

Veith alleged that when his contract ran out at the end of 1987, the studio began working on “Northern Exposure” and sold it to CBS in late 1989. Producers John Falsey and Joshua Brand received credit as the show’s creators.

YOUR MONEY IS NO GOOD HERE: It was one of the highlights of last month’s Hollywood Film Festival--a private evening at the trendy restaurant L’Orangerie honoring France’s consul general.

As the band played, some 200 guests noshed on layered Alaskan king crab, John Dory with carrots ratte, and a baked pastilla of peaches and raspberries. The wine and bubbly flowed--at $30 to $65 a bottle. There was even a cake.

Too bad the check allegedly bounced.

L’Orangerie owner Gerard Ferry contends in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court that when the party ended, his restaurant was left holding the bag for $35,006.07. He is alleging deceit and breach of contract, naming as defendants Mustang Films and its owner, Marie-Jocelyn Rousseau; festival founder Carlos de Abreu and Hollywood Network, the corporate entity behind the festival.

Ferry said he agreed to hold the party because A-listers such as actor Gene Hackman, Paramount Pictures chief Sherry Lansing and directors Rob Reiner and Mark Rydell were invited.

According to the suit, Rousseau paid a $5,000 deposit but stalled making the rest of the payment.

“We waited and waited and waited,” restaurant manager Stephane Clasquin recalled. “At 6 o’clock, the first guests started to arrive and [Rousseau] was still not there. What am I supposed to do? A nightmare!”

Later that night, she made out a check to the restaurant on the Mustang Films account and handed it over. It was returned for insufficient funds, according to the suit.

Rousseau has promised to make good on the bill, explaining that financial backing fell through at the last minute. Meanwhile, film festival organizer Carlos de Abreu said his group was unwittingly dragged into the dispute.

“If it turns out the film festival was deceived along with everybody else, and they didn’t do anything inappropriate, I’m sure we can reevaluate our position,” said restaurant attorney Jim Goldman.

LIFE IMITATES MELROSE PLACE: Count on that baby boom sweeping the set of Melrose Place to be a key topic in a legal battle brewing in Los Angeles Superior Court this month.

Heather “Amanda” Locklear has just given birth to a daughter. Lisa “Taylor” Rinna is expecting. And the woman who originally was signed to play Rinna’s role as the bed-hopping schemer Taylor McBride, is suing alleging pregnancy discrimination.

The trial of Hunter Tylo’s suit against Aaron Spelling’s production companies quietly began last week with jury selection. The thirtysomething actress from Santa Clarita alleges that she was wrongfully terminated from the show in 1996, when she became pregnant a month after quitting a daytime soap and inking her MP contract.

Spelling Television claims that because the role called for a scantily clad seductress, it had the right to drop Tylo because of a “material change” in her looks, regardless of whether the weight gain was due to a pregnancy or a passion for bonbons.

Times staff writer Robert W. Welkos contributed to this column.