Randolph College Plays Hardball; Anti-Art Sales Lawsuit Dropped

"Docks" on the Block? George Bellows, "Men of the Docks," 1912, Maier Museum

The four-month-old legal battle to stop the auction sale at Christie's of four works from the Maier Museum of Randolph College has ended with the decision by sale opponents to withdraw their legal action that was pending in Lynchburg, VA, Circuit Court. They had been seeking a court order prohibiting the disposals. Christa Desrets of the Lynchburg News & Advance has the story.

Money was clearly a major factor in the withdrawal of the opponents' suit. Preserve Educational Choice (PEC), the group organizing the legal effort, writes:

Counsel has advised us and the plaintiffs that even if our financial and human resources were unlimited, a nonsuit of the art lawsuit and a focus on the charitable trust appeal [described below] is the best way to protect the art. Of course our resources are not unlimited....More than a quarter of a million dollars has been spent on plaintiffs' legal fees alone and the ongoing art legal fees are running at close to $100,000 per month.

What PEC didn't mention in its latest statement is that the college's attorney, Gilbert Schill, on Jan. 25 sent the plaintiffs' attorney, Anthony Troy, a letter that played hardball and apparently achieved its objective. The letter stated:

If the case goes to trial, there is no permanent injunction, and a later sale yields less than the expected price ["probably in excess of $50 million," according to the letter], your clients will be liable for at least $1 million [the amount of the bond they were ordered by the court to post for a sales injunction], half of which would come from the $500,000 already posted, and the rest of which will come out of their pockets

All plaintiffs, as well as PEC, should understand...that they have already caused the College to incur damages that we believe substantially exceed the $1 million acknowledged by the Supreme Court. The College reserves the right to take appropriate action to seek recovery of all such damages.

The letter gave the plaintiffs until Feb. 1 to agree to abandon all attempts to stop the art sales, in exchange for an commitment from the college not to pursue financial relief beyond the $500,000 bond already posted by the plaintiffs.

PEC's announcement of the suit's withdrawal said nothing about whether that deadline was extended and the deal proposed by the college has now been made. It did assert that "a focus on the charitable trust appeal is the best way to protect the art." That case, now pending in Virginia Supreme Court, seeks to reverse Randolph's recent conversion from an all-women's to a coeducational college.

Unlike the Randolph sales, opponents of the proposed Fisk sales had a state attorney general on their side, defending in court the public's interest in important artworks held by Fisk in trust for the public.

Here's what Tennessee Attorney General Robert Cooper said Friday about the latest decision in the case over the fate of Fisk's Stieglitz Collection:

We are pleased that Chancellor has ruled that Fisk University can keep the Stieglitz Collection and has recognized the public's interest in this unique cultural resource. We are confident that Fisk can meet the requirements that the Court has set.

We can only hope.