‘Is That Your Strongest Argument?’: Judges Hear the Case for and Against Amanda Schmitt’s Appeal Against Knight Landesman and Artforum

An appellate court in New York heard arguments today about
whether to allow former Artforum employee Amanda Schmitt
to move forward with an appeal of her lawsuit against the magazine
and its ex-publisher Knight Landesman, who she has accused of
sexual harassment and defamation.

Schmitt’s attorneys argued that the judge who dismissed her case
in December failed to properly interpret the New York City
Human Rights Law when he decided that too much time had passed
between her employment at the magazine, which ended in 2012, and
the time she filed her lawsuit, in 2017. (The statute of
limitations for bringing a sexual harassment suit had run out;
Schmitt’s lawsuit instead focused on Landesman and the magazine’s
alleged retaliation, defamation, and slander.)

“Landesman’s alleged bad act was not made while he was
under Artforum’s control,” the judge wrote in his
decision to dismiss Schmitt’s case. “At
most, Artforum assumed a moral obligation;
however, such an obligation does not create a legally enforceable
duty.”

But Schmitt’s lawyers pointed out in the hearing today that the
New York City Human Rights Law protects all employees, past and
present, and that Landesman’s alleged retaliation against Schmitt
has harmed her career as a curator post-Artforum as well.
In one example of the alleged retaliation, Schmitt says that
Landesman once approached her while she was dining with friends
at a restaurant and told her that she had “unfairly” accused
him of sexual harassment and implored her friends, who were also
professionals in the art industry, “to help her understand the
reality.”

The panel of judges, who have yet to reach a decision on the
appeal, seemed receptive to Schmitt’s arguments. When Landesman’s
attorney argued that any retaliation against Schmitt would “simply
not [be] a violation” because it happened after her employment
ended, one judge pointed to Artforum‘s prominence in
the industry and said, “although she left their employ, she’s still
in their circles, still affected” by its influence.

When Landesman’s attorney, Margaret Watson, asserted that her client
was “allowed” to state his opinion that he had been falsely
accused, another judge interrupted: “Is he allowed to harangue her
in a public place?”

Meanwhile, Artforum‘s lawyer, Bettina Plevan—who has
previously defended several high-profile men against sexual
harassment allegations—argued that time had simply run out for
Schmitt to make these claims, wondering whether the court should
really start allowing people to “go back four years, 20 years and
make a complaint?”

“Is that your strongest argument?” one of the judges asked in
response.

“It’s one of many arguments,” Plevan shot back.

Landesman resigned from Artforum one day
after artnet
News published several allegations made against Landesman
and the same day Schmitt first filed her lawsuit. In the following
days, dozens of other women came
forward with further accusations against Landesman, who remains
a partial owner of the magazine, along with its three other
publishers.

Artforum‘s publishers initially defended
Landesman in the face of Schmitt’s allegations, but after the news
broke, said that they had had a change of heart.
Speaking further with their staff had shown them, they said, that
Landesman had in fact “engaged in unacceptable behavior and caused
a hostile work environment.” They pledged to create a task force of
women at the magazine to overhaul its work environment.

A representative for Artforum declined to comment for
this story. Attorneys for Landesman and Schmitt did not immediately
respond.

After the hearing, a dozen or so supporters of Schmitt followed
her into the lobby to congratulate her. Landesman’s attorney and
Artforum‘s attorney left together.

The post ‘Is That Your Strongest Argument?’: Judges Hear the
Case for and Against Amanda Schmitt’s Appeal Against Knight
Landesman and Artforum appeared first on artnet
News.