Sybil Harrington Estate's Lawsuit Against Metropolitan Opera Settled Out of Court
Thursday, April 15, 2004
Associated Press - 15 April 2004
AMARILLO, Texas (AP) ó A lawsuit alleging a donor's $5 million gift to the Metropolitan Opera should have gone to a Texas charitable foundation has been settled out of court.
The deal between the Metropolitan Opera Association Inc., the Amarillo Area Foundation and Sybil B. Harrington's estate came last week after court-ordered mediation, lawyers for both sides confirmed Tuesday.
Sharon Grubin, a lawyer for the Met, and Adam Shaw, who represented Harrington's interests, declined to comment on the terms, citing a provision in the agreement.
The lawsuit, filed in July, sought revocation of a $5 million donation. The lawsuit alleged that Met representatives had made false claims concerning the status of funds Harrington donated and disposition of other contributions after her death in 1998.
The foundation was to get the donation if the Met didn't use the funds in the way Harrington wanted them used, foundation lawyers said, citing a legal agreement. [The terms of Harrington's gift to the Met stated that the money was to be used for "traditional" stagings; it was alleged that the 2001 televised production of Tristan und Isolde on which the funds were spent was not "traditional" in style.]
The lawsuit sought an accounting of all donations by Harrington and a special trust created after her death. The lawsuit says Harrington donated more than $27 million to the opera during her lifetime, and the Harrington trust donated more than $6 million after her death.
Harrington was the widow of oilman Donald D. Harrington. He died in 1974.