SHAWNEE, Okla. (AP) — A museum is wrong to demand $2.3 million from a St. Gregory University auction of mineral interests, according to the trustee tasked with liquidating the school's assets to pay off creditors during federal bankruptcy proceedings.
The Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art in Shawnee filed a claim saying the W.P. Wood Charitable Trust transferred mineral deed ownership to St. Gregory's and two other parties in 1998. The trust notified the university by letter that a percentage of earnings from the July auction should go to the nonprofit museum, which had essentially been a department of St. Gregory's before 1990.
Trustee John Mashburn contended the letter was never recorded in the chain of title to the mineral interests and that the deed doesn't talk about transferring money to the museum.
"Even if enforceable by the museum, the Wood Trust Letter and the board's resolution clearly reference only the sharing of a percentage of the (university's) earnings each year or revenue received from the mineral interests," said Mashburn.
If the trust had intended to transfer dividend interest to the museum, it would have done so, Mashburn said.
A hearing on Mashburn's denial is scheduled for March 20.
The university closed and filed for bankruptcy in December 2017. Over 100 proofs of claim have been filed against St. Gregory's to date, totaling in excess of $10.6 million.
Dane Pollei, a former director of the museum, said the 30 percent share of mineral interest earnings the museum received from the university represents about 20 percent of its budget. The museum runs on roughly $500,000 annually, the Journal Record reported.