Former owners of the Phoenix Gallery at 508 Main Street are in a legal battle that heated up mid-December when 3rd District Court Judge Keith Kelly held one party in contempt of court for altering audio tapes.
The battle revolves around art director Judi Grenney’s authority to create a separate operating account to handle finances, and to advertise that the gallery was relocating and offering art for 20 to 50 percent off regular price.
Grenney’s attorney Kathleen McDonald said they have also filed counterclaims with the court.
The plaintiffs, Gary and Linda Barbour, opened the gallery with Grenney as a partner nearly a decade ago. In summer of 2009, the building owners notified the three that they planned to sell. 508 Main Street sold in July 2010 and in August the partners became contentious as they disagreed over how to end the enterprise.
Grenney was asked to hand over audio recordings of final business meetings in August as evidence. The Barbour’s attorney, Joe Wrona, claimed portions of the discussion were missing. In an email to the Park Record, he compared it to the Watergate scandal and missing minutes from White House tapes.
Judge Keith Kelly apparently agreed and last month held Grenney in contempt of court and ordered her to pay for Wrona’s time investigating the issue. He is also allowing the Barbours to fill in what they believe to be missing from the tapes.
In an interview Monday, Grenney said it was an honest mistake and some of the sounds on the tape were mischaracterized by Wrona.
“I tried to make the best copy I could. It is simply not true that I deleted information deliberately,” she said.
Wrona also complained to the court that Grenney created “secret” bank accounts in January 2010 unbeknownst to her partners. This came to light when money for operations ran out and she confessed to having diverted some to the accounts.
According to McDonald, this was because the Barbours were taking funds from the account and Grenney believed it was improper.
“She opened the account purely to preserve the gallery’s business, and there has never been any evidence that she improperly used any of the funds,” McDonald said via email.
Much of the contention arises from each of the parties believing they had more authority than the other over the gallery’s finances. Wrona’s position is that legal documents filed with the state, which Grenney signed, list Linda Barbour as the sole manager of the company and the person with ultimate fiscal authority.
Regardless of what Judge Kelly decides, the court documents reveal Grenney had fought in the final weeks before closure to save the gallery.
According to court records, the Barbours felt the gallery was losing money and was not worth saving. They wanted Grenney to wrap up operations and close quickly after receiving notice of the sale in July.
Grenney attempted to advertise that the gallery was relocating. She sold inventory at a discount to pay final bills and expenses, but the Barbours contend she had no right to do that.
Grenney said she wanted to continue in her career running galleries and did what she did to ensure a smooth transition. While Phoenix Gallery will never be reopened, she did say she has another project underway, but no lease yet.
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