Suit Over Oz Dress Axed in Win for Catholic University, Bonhams

The niece of the late Catholic priest who had a $1.2 million dress worn by Judy Garland among his possessions doesn’t have standing to sue Catholic University of America for trying to auction it off, a federal court ruled.

Gilbert V. Hartke counseled a close confidant of Garland, Oscar-winning actress Mercedes McCambridge, about substance abuse when he was chair of the university’s drama department. McCambridge sent him the blue and white dress seen in “The Wizard of Oz” as thanks, the Southern District of New York said. Hartke renounced material goods when he became a Dominican priest, but the dress ...