Art Museum, Laguna-Based Foes Fail to Reach Settlement

Opposing parties failed to reach a settlement Monday over the lawsuit seeking autonomy for the Laguna Art Museum despite a new agreement that will soon make the museum independent once again.

“It’s hard to say” if a settlement is close at hand, said Vern Spitaleri, president of Motivated Museum Members. The Laguna Beach-based group sued the new Orange County Museum of Art seeking to restore autonomy to the Laguna museum when it became a Museum of Art-controlled satellite after merging with Newport Harbor Art Museum last year.

The Laguna museum’s deed, plus responsibility for all its operations, will be transferred April 1 from the Orange County Museum of Art to the independent Laguna Art Museum Heritage Corp.

That local, nonprofit group was given minor responsibility over the Laguna satellite and the opportunity to take total control in five years. But, unhappy with its limited role, Heritage on Thursday signed a new agreement with the Museum of Art accelerating the agreement’s terms.

Heritage attorney Don Kaul said the group is “delighted” with the new agreement, which also gives the group access to the Museum of Art’s collection and about $1 million of an endowment built by the Laguna museum.

But Motivated Museum Members won’t accept terms of the agreement involving custodianship of the Laguna museum’s assets, Spitaleri said.

If the Heritage Corp. is dissolved, for instance, the museum building, its archives and financial assets should be taken over by “the city of Laguna Beach or its designee,” he said, not the Museum of Art.

The two factions will meet in court again Monday to try to settle the suit, but Spitaleri insists his group will go to trial if necessary.