Saturday, March 08, 2008

Over (UPDATED 2X)

I've mentioned on several occasions over the last few weeks that things were starting to go Randolph College's way in the lawsuit seeking to block it from selling four paintings. First, the court agreed to narrow the scope of the case to just the four paintings at issue, which seemed to be free and clear of any O'Keeffe-like restrictions on sale. Next, the temporary injunction blocking the sale was lifted when the plaintiffs couldn't raise the second half of the required million dollar bond. Then, two weeks ago, seven of the 19 plaintiffs in the case withdrew. Now, Christa Desrets tells us in today's Lynchburg News & Advance that the case has been dropped in its entirety. The school's decision last November to drop the portion of the case having to do with works bought from the Louise Jordan Trust (which arguably do come with O'Keeffe-like restrictions) turned out to be pretty shrewd.

There's a statement here from the group opposing the sale.

UPDATE: More here from Lee Rosenbaum.

UPDATE 2: Still more from Richard Lacayo.