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# Corcoran Group Mounts Legal Challenge to National Gallery Deal
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/corcoran-group-mounts-legal-challenge-to-national-gallery-deal/
- Published: 2014-07-03T18:30:18.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:16:51.000Z
- Description: Several concerned parties, including the Save the Corcoran advocacy group, have filed legal briefs seeking to block the Corcoran Gallery of Art's planned integration with the National Gallery, Washington City Paper reported.
- Author: Mostafa Heddaya
- Tags: News, Cooper Union, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Lawsuits, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:03 (2014, 2015, part 1)

![The Corcoran Gallery's beaux-arts building](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/02/corcoran-building.jpg)

The Corcoran Gallery’s beaux-arts building (photo by Laura Padgett/Flickr)

Several concerned parties, including the [Save the Corcoran](http://savethecorcoran.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) advocacy group, have filed legal briefs seeking to block the [Corcoran Gallery of Art’s planned integration with the National Gallery](https://hyperallergic.com/corcoran-merger-with-george-washington-university-and-national-gallery-finalized/), [*Washington City Paper*](http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/visual-arts/2014/07/02/advocacy-campaign-files-a-court-motion-to-stop-corcoran-dissolution/?ref=hyperallergic.com) reported. The effort, undertaken by faculty, alumni, donors, students, and former staff alleges managerial neglect on the part of the Corcoran’s administration and Trustees.

The documents, filed yesterday in Washington, DC Superior Court, state that the deal with the National Gallery “represents a betrayal of the Corcoran’s legacy, a dismantling of its key assets and features, and an abdication of the trustees’ role as stewards.”

The group is attempting to intervene in an ongoing legal process, known as [cy près](http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/eotopice81.pdf?ref=hyperallergic.com), that evaluates the dissolution of nonprofit entities. According to the [*Washington Post*](http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/group-launches-legal-action-to-stop-corcoran-deal/2014/07/02/94652d5e-01fc-11e4-8572-4b1b969b6322%5Fstory.html?tid=hpModule%5Fef3e52c4-8691-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394&ref=hyperallergic.com), the plaintiffs are asking Judge Robert Okun to order the Corcoran to provide an audit, appoint a review committee to assess alternatives to the National Gallery deal, and to reject the deal if it becomes apparent that Corcoran trustees contributed to the institution’s financial woes.

Should the deal be approved, the plaintiffs are further asking that Judge Okun remove all current Corcoran trustees, ensure that the entirety of the school’s collection remains in Washington, rather than just the “cherry-picked” National Gallery selection, and mandate that the Corcoran building continue to provide exhibition space to local artists.

The Corcoran action joins [similar litigation surrounding the Cooper Union’s recent decision to begin charging tuition](https://hyperallergic.com/alumni-and-students-file-suit-against-cooper-union-over-mismanaged-endowment/), with alumni and faculty bodies at both schools alleging that financial mismanagement by trustees has led to the abrogation of each institution’s 19th-century founding charter.

**Update, 7/7 10:20am**: *See below for an astute legal clarification regarding cy près by commenter MBotwinick.*