Joan Irvine Smith Settles Lawsuit Over Art

Joan Irvine Smith has settled her dispute with a Fallbrook art dealer she had accused of withholding more than $4 million in California Impressionist paintings he bought with her money, her lawyer said Wednesday.

Russell Allen, lawyer for the 61-year-old granddaughter of the Irvine Co. founder, said the terms of her settlement with art dealer Michael Johnson are confidential.

Smith filed the lawsuit a year ago in Orange County Superior Court, alleging breach of contract, among other complaints.

Johnson had called Smith’s charges “ludicrous” and countered that Smith owed him $750,000 in unpaid commissions for his help in obtaining $15 million in art.

The dispute stemmed from a whirlwind buying spree, starting in the fall of 1991, in which Smith astonished the art world by becoming the largest buyer of California Impressionist art in the nation. Some of the art has been displayed at the Irvine Museum, which she founded.

Allen said Johnson was employed as Smith’s agent from the fall of 1992 through the spring of 1993.

Smith and Johnson reached an agreement Aug. 8 and on Aug. 15 the lawsuit was dismissed, Allen said. He said the lawsuit had been scheduled to go to trial Sept. 12.