In an apparently unprecedented move, the Museum of Contemporary Art has filed a lawsuit against one of its past chairmen for failure to honor a $5 million fundraising pledge.
The suit, filed Wednesday in Cook County Circuit Court, states that Paul Oliver-Hoffmann, chairman of the MCA board of trustees from 1989 to 1991, made a written pledge on behalf of himself and his wife, Camille (who also was named in the action), to contribute the money toward the building and endowment of a new facility.
The pledge was to be paid in full by June 30, 1997.
“No response, either written or verbal, was given to repeated requests to honor the commitment,” said museum spokeswoman Maureen King. Appended to the lawsuit are seven pledge payment forms and reminders for payment dating from November 1991 to June 1997.
Oliver-Hoffmann, a prominent Chicago art collector and real estate developer with offices in Naperville, was unavailable for comment.
“While we are reluctant to pursue this course of action, the MCA’s board of trustees has a responsibility to the museum, its supporters, and to the community at large,” board chairman Penny Pritzker said in an MCA news release.
“We have always expected to receive this pledge,” Pritzker said, “and have relied on its payment in planning our future. By taking this action, we are managing the museum’s financial affairs professionally and appropriately.”
The museum seeks the $5 million, pre-judgment interest and legal costs.
Legal action against contributors is highly unusual among art museums in North America.
Officials at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles said they had never heard of a museum suing to collect an unpaid pledge. Similarly, Angela Dickson, press officer at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, said: “I have no knowledge of anything like that happening here. . . . I don’t think we’ve got anything like that.” Art Institute of Chicago officials were unavailable for comment.
The MCA began its $55 million campaign for a new building during Oliver-Hoffmann’s tenure as chairman. The lawsuit states his pledge, the second-largest received by the museum, was announced at the April 16, 1990, meeting of the board of trustees, of which he remains a member.
The museum surpassed its original goal, raising a total of $72 million. After a month of previews, the new facility at 220 E. Chicago Ave. opened to the public in July 1996.
“Everyone else either paid in full or made arrangements to continue payments,” King said. “Of approximately 400 contributors, no one (else) was delinquent in honoring their pledges.” Nevertheless, the lawsuit says, the museum “relied on the Oliver-Hoffmann’s pledge in soliciting funds from other contributors” and financial institutions.
It is common in large fundraising efforts for museum officers to set a tone of passionate commitment. In return, trustees receive public acknowledgment. The lawsuit says the Oliver-Hoffmanns were “listed as Distinguished Benefactors (i.e., people who have contributed $2.5 million and above to the Museum) in publications of the Museum (and were) listed prominently in the Museum on the Major Contributors’ Plaque.” The suit also enumerated invitations to society events, including construction tours, meet-the-artist opportunities and benefit galas.
When asked whether the museum’s news release on the lawsuit was an attempt to embarrass Oliver-Hoffmann, King replied: “No. We feel we have been diligent in efforts to see the pledge honored and have received no response. It is now our responsibility to recover the money promised the museum. That’s basic prudent fiscal management.”
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King denied that reports within the art community of conflict between Oliver-Hoffmann and MCA director Kevin Consey may have played a part in the museum’s action.
“Even if (conflict occurred), it would be irrelevant,” she said. “We have a binding legal document.”