Justice Shirley Werner Kornreich has dismissed portions of two lawsuits against the Metropolitan Museum of Art that said the fee taken by the museum upon entrance constituted charged admission rather than what should be, per an 1893 state law, a recommended donation.
You can find the details of the lawsuits here. The judge’s decision follows the issuance of a new lease by Mayor Bloomberg that allows the museum to charge admission. A portion of the cases that argues that the museum misleads visitors about its admissions policy will proceed under the ruling, according to The Times.
The Met’s statement follows:
(October 30, 2013)—The Met is delighted with the ruling and trusts this decision once and for all validates its longtime pay-what-you wish admissions policy—which, as the judge has declared, guarantees fairness and access for visitors of all economic means.
In describing the Museum’s existing admissions policy, the judge said: “All members of the public can afford to visit the Museum under the present scheme.”
The court also made reference to the recent lease amendment executed by the Museum and the City of New York, noting that “not only does it not alter the analysis in this decision, if anything, it bolsters the court’s ruling.”
