Seven of 19 plaintiffs disputing the sale of four Randolph College paintings are leaving the case after a recent decision to narrow the scope of litigation.
In a hearing earlier this month, Lynchburg Circuit Court Judge Leyburn Mosby Jr. pared the scope of the case to issues related only to the four paintings, and not to any other litigation involving the school becoming coeducational.
"Some of the counts that the court dismissed related to the coed cases, and the relationship between the art and the coed cases," said Anthony Troy, a Richmond-based lawyer representing the plaintiffs. "There were some plaintiffs that existed because of that relationship."
According to the order, which was filed Thursday, the seven plaintiffs withdrawing from the case are current Randolph College students Jenna Dodge, Sarah Hassmer, Kelsey McCune and Jennifer Mullins; former students Hayley Maxwell and Jessica Whittle; and alumna Alice Dammeyer Priebe.
The 12 remaining plaintiffs include five donors to the museum, three current students, two former employees, an alumna and a patron.
Contacted Friday, Hassmer said she was unaware of the new developments, but noted that none of the plaintiffs withdrawing from the case had donated to the school's Maier Museum of Art.
According to documents filed with the Lynchburg Circuit Court, each of the withdrawing plaintiffs is involved with at least one of the other ongoing cases against the school for its decision to go coed.
Randolph College agreed to the withdrawal of the plaintiffs, spokeswoman Brenda Edson said, but noted on the filed order that the school would reserve the right to seek recovery of damages from each of the plaintiffs.
The art case centers around 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 on Oct. 1.
The auction of the paintings was previously halted when the sale's opponents were granted a temporary injunction to prevent the "selling, assigning, transferring or otherwise disposing of" the paintings.
But that injunction dissolved when opponents failed to file the second half of a $1 million bond by the Feb. 15 deadline.
A trial on the case is set for the end of May. The cases involving the school's decision to adopt coeducation are scheduled for mid-April.
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