Net54baseball.com Forums - Donors to Sports Museum Have to Ransom Their Loaned Items

Posted By: Richard SimonTalk about chutzpah,,, this takes the cake. If you loaned items to the Sports Museum of America in NYC then you now have to ransom them back. This is from the NY Times: The trustee for the creditors of the shuttered Sports Museum of America has asked a federal bankruptcy court judge to charge fees to those who provided it with artifacts that start at $250 per item and rise to $2,500 for more than 20 pieces, plus $750 for every 10 items above 20. The museum, in Lower Manhattan, lasted less than a year and filed a Chapter 7 liquidation petition last month, citing $55.5 million in assets and $177.1 million in liabilities. Schuyler Carroll, a lawyer for the trustee, said the fees were intended to offset the costs of storage, cataloging, insurance and staff involved in returning the artifacts. The memorabilia came from collectors, dozens of halls of fame and sports organizations and athletes, including Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain, Michael Phelps and Bonnie Blair. Carroll said the fees apply to the artifacts owners who go through the trustee; others can consult their own lawyers. He added that if an owner lent several documents or photographs to the museum, they are not likely to be charged as separate items but would pay a $250 fee. But some creditors are angry that they are being asked to pay for their propertys return. William Dockery, the president of the Heisman Trophy Trust, which retrieved the famous statue before the trustee was hired, said: I dont know how he has the audacity to demand a fee so people can go down and get their own property. Why doesnt the trustee cut his fees? John Doleva, president of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, said the proposed fees meant the trustee was holding the artifacts for ransom. He added that the fees were a last poke at the scab after the hall insured and catalogued the items and did not get the substantial stipend from the museum that was part of the deal to provide the artifacts. The deadline to file objections to the fees is Friday at 4 p.m. and a hearing will be held Wednesday before Judge Robert D. Drain of the Federal Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. To think that these athletes, who, out of the goodness of their hearts, loaned at no cost to the museum their precious artifacts, and to expect them to pay to get them back, is outrageous, said Marj Snyder, the chief program and planning officer of the Womens Sports Foundation. The organization got all its items out of the museum, which was home to its Billie Jean King International Womens Sports Center. I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent. Unknown author -- We made a promise. We swore we'd always remember. No retreat baby, no surrender. The Boss