PSA: ‘Fender Benders’ Can Have Devastating Consequences
THE MOST FAMOUS ART HEIST YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF
One hundred and nine years ago this month, one man — or was it three? — fled from the Louvre Museum in Paris, carrying what would quickly become the world’s most famous painting: Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa.” Historical accounts of the theft agree only on who was the ringleader: 30-year-old Louvre handyman Vincenzo Peruggia. He was a house painter, an immigrant, the bearer of a glorious Monopoly Man mustache, and a vehement Italian patriot. At some point on the morning of Aug. 21, 1911, Peruggia lifted the glass case he himself had constructed to house the “Mona Lisa” and smuggled the painting from the building. Some versions of the story say Peruggia was assisted by two brothers, fellow Italian handymen Vincenzo and Michele Lancelotti. NPR reports the trio spent the night preceding the theft huddled in one of the Louvre’s supply closets, lying in wait to steal the portrait. In his documentary about the theft, director Joe Medeiros claims Peruggia acted alone, driven by an obsession with the work and a dream of returning the painting to Italy. Either way, we know that Peruggia successfully spirited the painting back to his one-bedroom apartment. There it lay concealed in a false- bottomed trunk for more than two years. This period of mysterious absence (during which police grilled and dismissed Peruggia as a suspect in favor of J.P. Morgan, Pablo Picasso, and playwright Guillaume Apollinaire) is what made the “Mona Lisa” world famous. Peruggia was eventually caught attempting to sell the painting in Italy. He pleaded guilty and spent eight months in jail. After his release, he enlisted in the Italian army to fight in World War I, surviving the war only to die of a heart attack on his 44th birthday. Though Peruggia married after the war, some suspect that the true love of his life was the “Mona Lisa” herself. In a CNN article, author and art history professor Noah Charney speculates that over his two years with her, Peruggia developed romantic feelings for the portrait. Perhaps he fell victim to a kind of “reverse Stockholm syndrome,” Charney suggests, the captor falling in love with his hostage. “In this case,” he says, “the hostage was a work of art.”
Last December, we shared the story of a case that is unlikely to happen to most people, but some cases are so common that many people don’t opt to get a lawyer. When it comes to your vehicle and your well-being, this can be a big mistake. Among the most common accident cases we see are from people who have been rear-ended at a red light or while slowing down in traffic, usually by a distracted driver. Very often, this kind of accident involves a light impact or very little exterior damage to the vehicle hit. Some people may assume this means there are no real consequences to the accident, calling it a “fender bender.” However, after decades of representing car accident injury victims, we’ve come to see the wisdom in a simple analogy: If you drop a carton of eggs, the carton itself may be fine, yet the eggs can be cracked or broken inside. With a relatively low-speed impact, many of these accidents result in minor auto damage and injuries that resolve quickly, but not all the time. Some of our clients go through a course of treatment, such as physical therapy or chiropractic care, yet their pain and lack of function is not eliminated or even worsens. Some may then require pain management treatments — a series of injections that help block pain/nerve signals for example, and unfortunately, sometimes even pain management does not reduce the severity of the symptoms. For example, in a recent case, a client needed a spinal surgery (anterior cervical discectomy and fusion,) after being in a “fender bender.” Remarkably, everyone else in the client’s car at the time of the accident was shaken up but healthy and fine. Even in accidents with a light impact, the damages and costs can be tremendous. As people return to the road after many months of staying at home, we hope your and those you care about stay safe. If the unexpected ever happens, even in a light-impact case, you can trust our expert legal team at Friedman & Simon to take care of you.
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