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FIGHT OVER ARMENIAN MUSEUM FLARES AMID CHARGES OF BIAS
Michael Doyle
Published: 03-14-2011
WASHINGTON - A rancorous legal fight over a proposed Armenian Genocide
Museum and Memorial is flaming up once more amid claims that a federal
judge might have been biased in her decision-making.
In an unexpected twist, the Armenian Assembly of America last week
demanded a new trial to reopen the long-running dispute over the
proposed museum. The Armenian Assembly contends that the original
trial judge was too close to the wealthy retired businessman who
prevailed in the museum lawsuit late last year.
Bizarrely, the fight now turns on the judge's and the businessman's
apparently shared passion for modern glass art.
"The undisclosed common interest and relationship may have biased
the outcome of the bench trial," attorney Richard Chaivetz declared
in the Armenian Assembly's latest legal filing.
An attorney for retired businessman and philanthropist Gerard Cafesjian
called the bid for a new trial frivolous.
"The motion is baseless," attorney John B. Williams said.
The dispute involves plans for a 50,000-square-foot Armenian genocide
museum, slated for construction on a former bank site several blocks
from the White House. The museum would commemorate the events of 1915
to 1923, when by some accounts more than 1 million Armenians died at
the hands of the Ottoman Empire.
A separate Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute already exists in
Armenia's capital city, Yerevan. Its director, Dr. Hayk Demoyan,
will speak March 21 in Fresno.
The proposed U.S. museum got rolling in the mid-1990s with several
large donations and pledges, including major assistance from
Cafesjian. He made his fortune with West Publishing, which produces
legal books.
The Armenian Assembly ultimately accused Cafesjian and his allies of
mismanaging museum planning. Cafesjian, in turn, felt he was poorly
treated, and a series of suits and countersuits effectively scuttled
the museum.
In January, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued a
190-page ruling that largely sided with Cafesjian and ordered the
museum property returned to the Cafesjian Family Foundation. So far,
that hasn't happened.
A Clinton administration appointee, Kollar-Kotelly has served on the
federal bench since 1997. After the judge issued her museum decision,
Armenian Assembly attorneys say, they discovered her common artistic
ground with Cafesjian.
In 1999, the attorneys say, Kollar- Kotelly, her husband and Cafesjian
provided a joint gift to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. That
gift was the purchase of Vestment II, a glass piece produced by an
artist whom Cafesjian also intended to feature at the Armenian museum.
A date hasn't yet been set for the judge to rule. Williams predicted
Kollar-Kotelly would dismiss the motion.
© 2011 The Associated Press.
From: A. Papazian
Michael Doyle
Published: 03-14-2011
WASHINGTON - A rancorous legal fight over a proposed Armenian Genocide
Museum and Memorial is flaming up once more amid claims that a federal
judge might have been biased in her decision-making.
In an unexpected twist, the Armenian Assembly of America last week
demanded a new trial to reopen the long-running dispute over the
proposed museum. The Armenian Assembly contends that the original
trial judge was too close to the wealthy retired businessman who
prevailed in the museum lawsuit late last year.
Bizarrely, the fight now turns on the judge's and the businessman's
apparently shared passion for modern glass art.
"The undisclosed common interest and relationship may have biased
the outcome of the bench trial," attorney Richard Chaivetz declared
in the Armenian Assembly's latest legal filing.
An attorney for retired businessman and philanthropist Gerard Cafesjian
called the bid for a new trial frivolous.
"The motion is baseless," attorney John B. Williams said.
The dispute involves plans for a 50,000-square-foot Armenian genocide
museum, slated for construction on a former bank site several blocks
from the White House. The museum would commemorate the events of 1915
to 1923, when by some accounts more than 1 million Armenians died at
the hands of the Ottoman Empire.
A separate Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute already exists in
Armenia's capital city, Yerevan. Its director, Dr. Hayk Demoyan,
will speak March 21 in Fresno.
The proposed U.S. museum got rolling in the mid-1990s with several
large donations and pledges, including major assistance from
Cafesjian. He made his fortune with West Publishing, which produces
legal books.
The Armenian Assembly ultimately accused Cafesjian and his allies of
mismanaging museum planning. Cafesjian, in turn, felt he was poorly
treated, and a series of suits and countersuits effectively scuttled
the museum.
In January, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued a
190-page ruling that largely sided with Cafesjian and ordered the
museum property returned to the Cafesjian Family Foundation. So far,
that hasn't happened.
A Clinton administration appointee, Kollar-Kotelly has served on the
federal bench since 1997. After the judge issued her museum decision,
Armenian Assembly attorneys say, they discovered her common artistic
ground with Cafesjian.
In 1999, the attorneys say, Kollar- Kotelly, her husband and Cafesjian
provided a joint gift to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. That
gift was the purchase of Vestment II, a glass piece produced by an
artist whom Cafesjian also intended to feature at the Armenian museum.
A date hasn't yet been set for the judge to rule. Williams predicted
Kollar-Kotelly would dismiss the motion.
© 2011 The Associated Press.
From: A. Papazian