As the latest legal battle grows, multiple sources say half of DuSable’s Board of Trustees are distancing themselves from Perri Irmer and have expressed growing distrust of her leadership. But few are willing to vote to remove her, the Crusader has learned.
The ongoing situation has raised significant concerns about the reputation of the DuSable Museum and its future endeavors.
Sources say Irmer traveled to the South of France in March. The purpose of the trip could not be independently verified.
In Dulaney’s lawsuit, the DuSable Museum and Irmer are named as defendants. Irmer is represented by a separate attorney, Sean Herring, of Jackson Lewis, P.C., a Chicago law firm.
Since January 13, Justin DeLuca, Dulaney’s attorney, has sent 16 subpoenas to donors, contractors, governmental agencies and individuals that have done business with the DuSable Museum. DeLuca wants them to submit a trove of documents that will help build his client’s case against the institution. Four months after Dulaney filed her lawsuit, the museum has yet to file its response in court. The museum has declined to release audits and financial reports regarding its financial condition.
Now, the museum faces a new problem that may impact its bottom line. When DuSable officials learned DeLuca subpoenaed its donors, a legal battle erupted and threatened to uncover damaging information that may further hurt the museum’s reputation and its relationship with major donors, who contribute thousands of dollars annually.
Those donors include the Chicago Bears, the McCormick Foundation and TJ Maxx. DeLuca also subpoenaed the Chicago Park District, Alderman Jeanette Taylor, the University of Chicago’s Office of Civic Engagement, PNC Bank’s legal department, Katie Craig of P2 Consulting, and Juan & Only LLC.
The names of those subpoenaed were disclosed in the museum’s motion to have them quashed. Some of those subpoenaed are firms and vendors that work with the museum on grants and community events. DuSable officials argue the subpoenas should be quashed because they are “improper” and a form of harassment.
DeLuca disagrees. He says issuing subpoenas is a routine practice for attorneys in legal cases. He wants DuSable’s donors and contractors to provide him emails, letters, memos, grant agreements, documents and complaints to track the flow of funds and grants to see whether they were used for their intended purpose within the museum’s education and programs department, where Dulaney served as vice president before she was terminated.
In her whistleblower complaint to government agencies before she was fired, Dulaney alleged she learned from an email by TJ Maxx that the retailer donated $25,000 to the museum’s education department. Dulaney said the retailer requested an accounting of how the donation was spent. Because she was unaware of the donation, she said she could not answer the retailer’s question.
The Chicago Bears are also an annual donor that was subpoenaed. It is unclear how much the Bears donate annually, as the DuSable does not list individual donors on its IRS Form 990 filings. The Bears have not been accused in Dulaney’s lawsuit of any wrongdoing related to their donations. While the lawsuit does not allege misuse of donations from specific donors like the Bears, DeLuca is seeking records related to past contributions, raising broader questions connected to allegations outlined in Dulaney’s complaint.
According to the Bears organization, their relationship with DuSable began in 2020 when Bears Care gave the museum a $19,000 grant for its Juneteenth celebration. Bears Care renewed the grant in 2021 for the museum’s official reopening following the pandemic.
In 2023, the Chicago Bears provided a $50,000 grant through their Bears Care program after General Manager Ryan Poles and Assistant General Manager Ian Cunningham visited the museum. The grant supported the museum’s annual Juneteenth community celebration.
As a member of Museums in the Park, DuSable receives approximately $1.7 million in taxpayer funds annually from the Chicago Park District.
In its subpoena to the Chicago Park District, DeLuca is requesting documents “regarding any investigations since 2021 through the present,” as well as emails involving Irmer, DuSable and its employees related to events hosted by the museum during that period.
In a separate subpoena to Alderman Taylor, DeLuca is requesting records of complaints her office may have received regarding the DuSable Museum from 2021 to the present.
Museums rely heavily on donors to sustain operations. At a March 30 hearing in Cook County Circuit Court, Katherine Rodesky, one of DuSable’s attorneys, told Judge James Hanlon that the museum was losing donations. During that same hearing, Rodesky objected to DeLuca’s subpoenas and asked the judge to quash them.
The following day, March 31, DuSable filed a motion to quash the subpoenas, calling them “improper” and “unnecessary harassment.”
DuSable’s attorneys argue that the documents DeLuca is seeking could have been obtained through the discovery process rather than subpoenas issued to third parties.
In the motion, attorneys state, “Plaintiff’s subpoenas to third-party recipients broadly request ‘emails, letters, and correspondence’ with The DuSable and its employees, without any reasonable limitation as to time or scope, and without regard for the relevance, sensitivity, or privacy of the materials sought.”
Article Appeared @https://chicagocrusader.com/chicago-bears-tj-maxx-subpoenaed-lawsuit-dusable-museum/