Suing Cargo Largo, Pak Mail and UPS in Florida for Art Theft

By Elizabeth Weber, Esq.

The Supreme Court of Florida recently reinstated an art theft lawsuit between artist Ivana Vidovic Mlinar (Vidovic) and three defendants - the United Parcel Service Co. (UPS); Pak Mail, a South Florida packing store and UPS shipping service provider; and Cargo Largo, UPS’s lost goods contractor. Mlinar v. United Parcel Service Co. et al., No. SC14-54 (Fla. 2016). The suit alleges that these parties stole Vidovic’s work, profited from the theft of her paintings, used her name or likeness without Vidovic’s authorization, and, finally, that the defendants violated Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

The events leading to the case took place more than ten years ago. In 2005, Vidovic’s husband shipped two of her oil paintings, Advice and The Messenger, via UPS, using services provided by Pak Mail without purchasing shipping insurance. The paintings’ final destination was the Mario Novak Gallery in New York City where Vidovic had planned to exhibit and offer her work for sale. According to an Associated Press article, Vidovic viewed the New York City exhibition “as a major opportunity to advance her career.”

After shipping the paintings to Mario Novak, proprietor of the Mario Novak Gallery, Vidovic and her husband traveled to New York City for her exhibition on the date her paintings were scheduled to arrive at Novak’s home. When Novak’s fiancé received the shipping tube that should have contained the paintings, she discovered the tube had been cut open and emptied. Vidovic, her husband, Novak, and Novak’s fiancé then found and questioned the two UPS drivers who had delivered the empty tube. The UPS drivers stated that they delivered the package in the condition in which they found it, noting that the tube had already been cut open when they received it for delivery.