Court Ruling Appears to End Dispute Over Donor’s Guidance

Pennsylvania’s highest court has issued a ruling that appears to end more than two years of legal wrangling over the fate of the Barnes Foundation, an art-appreciation school and multibillion-dollar art collection in Merion, Pa.

The state’s Supreme Court unanimously rejected an art student’s appeal of the institution’s plan to move its paintings, sculptures, and other works to a new location. The court said that the student, Jay Raymond, had no legal right to pursue the case.

A lower court had ruled in December that the Barnes Foundation, created by Albert C. Barnes, a Philadelphia doctor, more than 80 years ago, could make the move even though Dr. Barnes had stated in legal documents that he wanted the collection to be kept at his home in Merion, a suburb of Philadelphia.

In the December ruling, the judge acknowledged that some observers would consider the move “an outrageous violation of the donor’s trust.” But, he said, he found “signals” within the volumes of materials in the long court fight that the move would be in line with Dr. Barnes’s wishes for his collection to gain greater exposure.

The judge also acknowledged the role of three local donors — the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Annenberg and Lenfest Foundations — that had pledged to help the Barnes Foundation raise money to pay for the gallery’s move. The three foundations have joined 35 other donors that have so far promised a total of $100-million.

Moving the Museum

Howard J. Bashman, Mr. Raymond’s lawyer, said his client would not appeal the court ruling. Mr. Bashman said that Mr. Raymond still maintains, however, that the lower court’s decision to approve the Barnes’s relocation “did not defer sufficiently to the charitable donor.”

In the meantime, Annenberg, Lenfest, and Pew have contributed $3-million to the Barnes over the last two years, and plan to donate another $3-million in the coming two years to help pay for operating costs — about $4.5-million a year — until the move. The grant makers had suspended payments to the Barnes Foundation when Mr. Raymond asked to appeal the December decision.

Rebecca Rimel, Pew’s executive director, said payments will be resumed, as will fund-raising efforts led by Pew.

The Supreme Court had agreed to expedite the case, bypassing the state’s superior court, to alleviate financial pressure on the Barnes Foundation, which said it would face a cash crunch if the lawsuit wore on.

Kimberly Camp, executive director of the Barnes Foundation, said she was elated by the Pennsylavnia Supreme Court’s decision, adding that she hopes it puts an end to critics’ assertions that the Barnes has strayed from its founder’s wishes.

“Regrettably many people have never understood, never taken the time to understand, what Dr. Barnes wanted,” she said. “It’s a shame it took all this litigation to prove that what we are doing is based on Dr. Barnes’s very own words.”

Pennsylvania’s Attorney General Tom Corbett, whose office had sided with the Barnes Foundation in the lower-court case and had urged the Supreme Court to expedite its decision, said in a statement that the ruling will “positively impact the foundation and the people of Pennsylvania.”