{"id":10228,"date":"2015-03-12T15:20:21","date_gmt":"2015-03-12T20:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=10228"},"modified":"2015-03-12T15:20:21","modified_gmt":"2015-03-12T20:20:21","slug":"lawsuit-against-lucas-museum-to-proceed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/lawsuit-against-lucas-museum-to-proceed\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawsuit against Lucas Museum to proceed"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Constantina Kokenes<\/p>\n

U.S. District\u00a0Judge John W. Darrah Thursday\u00a0morning denied a motion by the city of Chicago and the Chicago Park District to dismiss a lawsuit against a proposal to locate the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art on Chicago\u2019s Museum Campus.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWe felt that in the state court system, it might be less likely that the case would be determined because of the legal aspects.\u201d<\/p>\n

– Cassandra Frances, Friends of the Parks<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWhile we are disappointed that the court did not resolve the case today, we look forward to the next phase of the public process to determine the best way to make the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art a great new addition to Chicago\u2019s Museum Campus,\u201d the city of Chicago\u2019s Law Department said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Friends of the Parks\u00a0<\/span>filed the lawsuit against the city in November<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/a>2014 in federal court in order to avoid state courts, which the group considers more susceptible to political pressure.
\n<\/p>\n

\n

Related stories<\/h1>\n

Controversy over Lucas Museum continues<\/a><\/div>\n

\u201cState courts are much more of an appointed system,\u201d said\u00a0Cassandra Francis, President of Friends of the Parks. \u201cWe felt that in the state court system, it might be less likely that the case would be determined because of the legal aspects.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit argues that building the museum on the lakefront is a decision for the State of Illinois rather than Chicago. It cited the\u00a0<\/span>Lakefront Protection Ordinance<\/span><\/a>, which states that “in no instance will further private development be permitted east of Lake Shore Drive.”<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything on the lakefront still is absolutely, no question, public trust doctrine,\u201d Francis said. \u201cThe city technically just can\u2019t say, willy-nilly, \u2018Yes, Mr. Lucas, go ahead and use this site.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The city of Chicago and the Chicago Park District filed the motion to dismiss the lawsuit in December. In the multiple replies for dismissal since then, they argued that the U.S. Supreme Court has never held that a state cannot convey property held in public trust under any circumstances.<\/p>\n

“The filings speak for themselves,\u201d said John Holden, spokesman for Mayor Emmanuel\u2019s office. Holden declined to comment further.<\/p>\n

Darrah denied the motion to dismiss the lawsuit on three of the four counts. In his written opinion<\/a>, he said the memorandum of understanding makes clear that the Park District committed to transferring control of public park land to the museum.\u00a0He\u00a0also said the Park District cannot relinquish its trust over public land to a private party and that it is unclear if the Park District would remain the property owner.<\/p>\n

Darrah dismissed the claim arguing that the museum plans to violate the equal protection clause of the 14th<\/sup> Amendment. Friends of the Parks has the option to appeal this dismissal.<\/p>\n

“We’re pleased with the court allowing the case [to move] forward,” said Sean Morales-Doyle, attorney for Friends of the Parks. \u201cBut we haven\u2019t decided what\u2019s next.\u201d<\/p>\n

Press contact for the Lucas museum, Kate LeFurgy, denied to comment about the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur stance has not changed,\u201d LeFurgy said. \u201cWe remained committed [to] and focused [on] Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next status hearing will be held on April 28.<\/p>\n

Photo at top: North view rendering of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art on Museum Campus. U.S. District Judge John W. Darrah denied the motion to dismiss the lawsuit against the city and the Chicago Park District.\u00a0(LMNA)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Constantina Kokenes U.S. District\u00a0Judge John W. Darrah Thursday\u00a0morning denied a motion by the city of Chicago and the Chicago Park District to dismiss a lawsuit against a proposal to locate the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art on Chicago\u2019s Museum Campus. \u201cWe felt that in the state court system, it might be less likely that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":10230,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,30,26,243],"tags":[390,61,392,388,331,393,389,394,335,391,330,334],"class_list":["post-10228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-public-affairs","category-topics","category-winter-2015","tag-cassandra-francis","tag-chicago","tag-city-hall","tag-friends-of-the-parks","tag-george-lucas","tag-john-holden","tag-judge-john-darrah","tag-kate-lefurgy","tag-lakefront","tag-lawsuit","tag-lucas-museum","tag-museum-campus"],"yoast_head":"\nLawsuit against Lucas Museum to proceed - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/lawsuit-against-lucas-museum-to-proceed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lawsuit against Lucas Museum to proceed - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Constantina Kokenes U.S. District\u00a0Judge John W. Darrah Thursday\u00a0morning denied a motion by the city of Chicago and the Chicago Park District to dismiss a lawsuit against a proposal to locate the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art on Chicago\u2019s Museum Campus. \u201cWe felt that in the state court system, it might be less likely that […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/lawsuit-against-lucas-museum-to-proceed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-03-12T20:20:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/03\/LMNA_Rendering_North_View.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"463\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"constantinakokenes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"constantinakokenes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/lawsuit-against-lucas-museum-to-proceed\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/lawsuit-against-lucas-museum-to-proceed\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"constantinakokenes\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f21e965df1bda2aec236c5e0e454deac\"},\"headline\":\"Lawsuit against Lucas Museum to proceed\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-12T20:20:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/lawsuit-against-lucas-museum-to-proceed\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":570,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/lawsuit-against-lucas-museum-to-proceed\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/LMNA_Rendering_North_View.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"cassandra francis\",\"Chicago\",\"city hall\",\"friends of the parks\",\"george lucas\",\"john holden\",\"judge john darrah\",\"kate lefurgy\",\"lakefront\",\"lawsuit\",\"lucas museum\",\"museum campus\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Arts & Culture\",\"Public Affairs\",\"Topics\",\"Winter 2015\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/lawsuit-against-lucas-museum-to-proceed\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/lawsuit-against-lucas-museum-to-proceed\\\/\",\"name\":\"Lawsuit against Lucas Museum to proceed - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/lawsuit-against-lucas-museum-to-proceed\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/lawsuit-against-lucas-museum-to-proceed\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/LMNA_Rendering_North_View.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-12T20:20:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f21e965df1bda2aec236c5e0e454deac\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/lawsuit-against-lucas-museum-to-proceed\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/lawsuit-against-lucas-museum-to-proceed\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/lawsuit-against-lucas-museum-to-proceed\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/LMNA_Rendering_North_View.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/LMNA_Rendering_North_View.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":463,\"caption\":\"North view rendering of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art on Museum Campus. 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