A federal judge in South Carolina awarded Clover artist Todd Atkinson $158,400 after finding another artist painted over his landmark “Water Tank” mural and signed it as his own. The court said Atkinson created the original train-and-water-tank mural in 1982 on a downtown Clover building.
Court filings say artist Chan Shepherd later covered the mural with a near replica. However, Shepherd replaced Atkinson’s name with his own signature.
The judge awarded $150,000 in maximum statutory damages under the Visual Artists Rights Act for a willful violation.
The judge’s order specifically states:
“Atkinson requests $150,000, the maximum statutory penalty available. He argues that a significant statutory damages award is necessary to compensate him but also to deter willful violations, a critical goal of VARA. [ECF No. 62 at 15–16.] Atkinson argues the “case calls for strong deterrence of willful abuses of the VARA” as Shepherd “willfully destroyed a work of art authored by a fellow artist” and then “did not deign to appear and defend himself” in this action. Id. at 16. The court agrees. And the requested enhancement falls within the range upheld by courts in similar cases. See id. at 15 (citing Cohen v. G&M Realty L.P., 320 F. Supp. 3d 421, 447 (E.D.N.Y. 2018) (finding “the maximum award of statutory damages” warranted under VARA and awarding a total of $6,750,000 in damages, consisting of $150,000 for each work of art), affirmed by Castillo v. G&M Realty L.P., 950 F.3d 155 (2d Cir. 2020)). Cf. Martin v. City of 0:24-cv-01545-SAL Date Filed 01/06/26 Indianapolis, 192 F.3d 608, 614 (7th Cir. 1999) (finding that the plaintiff was not entitled to enhanced damages in what “appear[ed] to be a case of bureaucratic failure within the City government, not a willful violation of plaintiff’s VARA rights”). Accordingly, the court awards Atkinson $150,000 in enhanced damages under § 504(c).”
The court also awarded $8,400 in actual damages tied to the mural’s appraised replacement value.
The ruling turns a decades-old Clover mural into a fresh warning for property owners and artists. It also reinforces that courts can hit willful misattribution with the strongest penalties available.
