DE PERE – The exhibit provider sued by the Mulva Cultural Center denies the details of the lawsuit, arguing that the nonprofit De Pere is the one that breached the agreement and acted in bad faith.
The Mulva Center alleged in a July 15 lawsuit that Exhibits Development Group (EDG) failed to deliver four pieces as promised and sought to recoup the $1.4 million it paid EDG. The center said it terminated its contract with EDG on April 9.
EDG’s attorneys said in an August answer and counterclaim that the lawsuit’s claims are barred by Mulva officials’ own breaches of contract, misconduct, bad faith, marketing failures and interference with business relationships. In a statement to the Press-Gazette, EDG disputed the Mulva Center’s claims, noting that it has worked closely with hundreds of museums and cultural centers for 20 years without incident.
“This lawsuit is an attempt by Mulva Cultural Center to correct its own mistakes. EDG is confident in the work we have done and the efforts made to honor our contract,” the statement said. “We are prepared to take this to court and are confident that we will prevail.”
The Minnesota-based company filed its response in the United States District Court for Eastern Wisconsin after the case was transferred from Brown County Circuit Court to federal court. The Mulva Center filed its response to the counterclaim on Aug. 30, and a hearing was set for Sept. 6.
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Mulva’s parent company, De Pere Cultural Foundation Inc., contracted with EDG to produce four exhibitions focusing on the Beatles, Grammy winners from Wisconsin, dinosaurs and Lego.
The center said EDG failed to provide John Lennon’s Rolls Royce limousine for the Beatles exhibit, changed the focus of the Grammys exhibit and had to cancel the dinosaur exhibit. The cultural center said concerns about the delivery of the Lego exhibit, Bricktionary, led it to terminate its contract with EDG in April. The Bricktionary exhibit ended its run at the cultural center in early September.
In the lawsuit, the company seeks the return of nearly $1.4 million paid to EDG for the evidence.
Attorneys for the Mulva Cultural Center declined to comment for this story, citing the ongoing litigation.
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How did EDG respond to the De Pere Center complaint?
The company denied most of the Mulva Center’s claims, calling them “baseless,” claiming it acted in good faith and abided by the terms of the contract. It supplemented those denials with some contradictory details to what the Mulva Center alleged.
For example, EDG said the center was informed that Lennon’s Rolls Royce was contingent on the loan being approved. When the loan was rejected, EDG said Mulva staff were notified months before the exhibit opened and the Mulva marketing team still included the limousine in the exhibit’s promotions, calling it “problematic.”
EDG also indicated that it had given timely notice that the dinosaur exhibit had been delayed in shipping from Saudi Arabia, making it undeliverable. It also repeatedly assured that the Lego exhibit, which was located in the United States, would be delivered on time or even earlier.
Exhibition provider claims Mulva was unprepared for exhibitions and colluded with Lego exhibition owners in ‘clear attempt’ to avoid payment
Exhibits Development Group’s response to the complaint also contained counterclaims that Mulva Cultural Center breached its contract in several ways.
It alleges that Mulva Center staff was unprepared for the arrival of the Beatles and Grammy exhibitions in the fall of 2023 and focused on finishing construction of the new building. EDG alleges that the contract required Mulva Center to pay EDG’s set-up and tear-down costs for the exhibits, but that did not happen.
“The opening was delayed several times due to construction issues at the Center. Despite these setbacks and the Center’s lack of preparation for the installation of the first exhibits, EDG stepped in and worked tirelessly, without compensation, to source exhibit walls and prepare the space for the first exhibits,” the company said in the statement.
When the December 2023 Houthis terrorist attacks made shipping the dinosaur exhibit from Saudi Arabia more difficult and expensive, EDG said it made reasonable attempts to arrange a replacement, but Mulva staff rejected them all. EDG also said the dinosaur exhibit problems did not breach the agreement because both parties in the contract waived liability for failure to deliver due to “any cause beyond their reasonable control, including … terrorism.”
At the same time that Mulva terminated the agreement and said it was canceling the Lego exhibit, EDG said it had learned that the center had contracted directly with the owners of the Lego exhibit to provide the exhibit for a lower fee than it had agreed to pay EDG. The exhibit provider called the move “a blatant attempt by MCC to circumvent its payment obligations” and claimed it amounted to interference with EDG’s own agreement with the exhibit owners.
EDG said the agreement with the Mulva Center still required royalties to be paid for the Lego exhibit.
What does the exhibition provider expect from the Mulva Cultural Center?
EDG’s counterclaim concludes with a request that the federal judge dismiss Mulva Cultural Center’s complaint and order the center to pay all direct damages caused by their actions, the costs and fees EDG claims it owes, as well as attorney fees and any other relief deemed appropriate.
Why was the lawsuit moved to federal court?
EDG moved the case from Brown County Superior Court to the U.S. District Court for Eastern Wisconsin in August, relying on so-called diversity jurisdiction.
A case is eligible for transfer to federal court if the amount involved is more than $75,000 and the companies involved in the lawsuit are located in different states. In this case, the Mulva center is located in Wisconsin, and EDG officials live in Minnesota, Kansas, and New York.
Response from Mulva Cultural Center
In their response, attorneys for De Pere Cultural Foundation Inc. did not challenge the move to the federal court for eastern Wisconsin and generally dismissed many of the exhibit providers’ claims against the cultural center.
The centre’s response stated that it had acted within the terms of its contract with EDG, noting that:
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The agreement to cover EDG’s costs contained more than the evidence provider had included in his counterclaim.
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Denied that he knew the limousine would not be included in the Beatles exhibit.
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It was admitted that the owner of the Lego exhibit had been contacted, but denied that this was a breach of the agreement between the Mulva Center and EDG or a breach of the business agreements.
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They alleged that EDG itself had breached the agreement, rendering their counterclaims invalid.
The Mulva Center and EDG tried mediation and it failed. What now?
An Aug. 23 document in the federal filing asks the judge in the case to set a schedule for hearings, procedural arguments and deadlines for the parties to produce documents related to their claims and counterclaims.
The report shows that the process is expected to take four to five days.
The report also notes that the Mulva Center and EDG have already met with a mediator, as required by their contract, to try to resolve their dispute. While they are not interested in further discussions at this time, they have not ruled out future settlement talks.
Contact Jeff Bollier at (920) 431-8387 or jbollier@gannett.comFollow him on Twitter at @JeffBollier.
This article originally appeared in the Green Bay Press-Gazette: Exhibit vendor asks judge to dismiss $1.4 million lawsuit from De Pere Center
