Battle of the £8m burst pipe
Photographer sues after priceless negatives and prints are ruined in flood
OVER the years, he has photographed many of the most celebrated names in showbiz and politics – and royalty.
But legendary Scots photographer Albert Watson claims hundreds of priceless images and negatives were destroyed when a burst pipe flooded his Manhattan home.
The 73-year-old, who grew up in Penicuik, Midlothian, has been named one of the 20 most influential photographers of all time, photographing Uma Thurman, Tom Hanks, Bill and Hillary Clinton and the Queen.
He plans to sue neighbours for more than £8million after the flood which took place when 20 gallons of water poured into his £2million ground-floor Tribeca studio in August.
Vintage prints of Clint Eastwood and Alfred Hitchcock were lost, along with irreplaceable Polaroids of Johnny Depp and Naomi Campbell.
Mr Watson’s lawyer Aaron Richard Golub yesterday confirmed the suit had been filed with the New York Supreme Court. He said Watson and his wife Liz are ‘very upset’ at the damage.
Mr Golub added: ‘These pictures are historic, they are his career. They are some of the most amazing Polaroids. The work lost was extremely valuable. These are vintage Polaroids and prints and went back to the beginning of his career. There were photos of very important political figures, movie stars; a huge collection was lost.’
It is claimed Mr Watson’s neighbours Robert Kartheiser and Caroline Walther-Meade, who live above, were on holiday in Sweden when the incident occurred.
Mr Watson is claiming £8.28million ($11.7million) – £1.2million ($1.7million) for loss of property and the remainder in punitive damages. Only £300,000 of the loss is covered by his insurance.
But he may have a fight on his hands, as the couple are both high-powered attorneys.
Mr Kartheiser, 55, works in financial law while his partner Miss Walther-Meade, 45, specialises in financing for international projects. Neither returned calls or email requests for comment.
According to court documents, the damage covered personal items ‘too numerous to mention’ and affected the walls, floor, ceiling, insulation and wiring.
Legal papers allege the damage was caused by the defendants’ ‘negligent use of the premises’ and ‘negligent failure to install proper plumbing parts’.
The lawsuit says they left their home ‘unattended’ and ‘absented themselves without taking reasonable and proper precautions to have [their] condominium periodically inspected knowing the potential peril related to possibly defective parts’.
Watson accuses the couple of failing to exercise ‘normal, reasonable care’, of nuisance, gross negligence and failure to take proper precautions.
The punitive damages are to cover the ‘high degree of moral culpability’, he claims. He says it was ‘so flagrant as to transcend mere carelessness’.
Mr Watson studied photography at art college in Dundee and in 1995 he received an honorary PhD from Dundee University.
He was inducted into the Scottish Fashion Awards Hall of Fame in 2006 and his first Scottish exhibition, Frozen, was held in Edinburgh that year.
Since moving to the US, he has shot more than 100 Vogue covers and 40 for Rolling Stone.