Randolph College art trial could be delayed

By Christa Desrets, Lynchburg News & Advance
Published: February 6, 2008

A trial to determine the fate of four Randolph College paintings will continue as planned, but could be delayed up to six weeks, Lynchburg Circuit Court Judge Leyburn Mosby Jr. ruled in a hearing Tuesday.

The college had asked that the scope of the case be narrowed to include information on just the four paintings, or that it be dismissed altogether.

Plaintiffs countered those arguments and asked that the case be delayed and heard by a jury.

Mosby met the requests in the middle.

He agreed to narrowing the scope of the case, and said the trial could be delayed for up to six weeks from its original starting date on April 29.

That would provide time, he said, for both sides to consider any Virginia Supreme Court rulings that are expected to be released April 20.

The rulings would come from two other cases against the college related to its decision to adopt coeducation. A hearing on those cases is scheduled for the week of Feb. 25.

Mosby said he would rule on the request for a jury trial at a later date.

The case involves four paintings - George Bellows’ “Men of the Docks,” Edward Hicks’ A “Peaceable Kingdom,” Ernest Hennings’ “Through the Arroyo” and Rufino Tamayo’s “Troubador” - that were removed from the college’s Maier Museum of Art on Oct. 1.

The sale’s opponents were previously granted an injunction to prevent the “selling, assigning, transferring or otherwise disposing of” the paintings before May 10, according to the order.

But to finalize the injunction, the opponents must file the second half of a $1 million bond by Feb. 15.

That money has not yet been raised, according to Tony Troy, a Richmond-based attorney representing the sale’s opponents.

Later this week, the opponents plan to seek more time to raise the money or a lowered bond requirement, he said.