A lawyer for UMB Bank said this week that some of the more salacious allegations made against his client by heirs of Missouri artist Thomas Hart Benton are fabricated.
Other claims made by the Benton’s family about how UMB Bank managed the late artist’s estate have been stripped of context and factual underpinnings, Todd Ruskamp said.
Ruskamp, a Shook, Hardy & Bacon lawyer representing the venerable Kansas City bank at a trial that started this week, said in opening arguments that the case put on by Benton’s lawyers represents more of a scripted presentation than one based on fact.
Benton’s daughter, Jessie Benton, and her three children sued in 2019, claiming that the bank mishandled the estate of the famous 20th century painter from Missouri, who left his vast art collection in care of the bank.
The Benton family has claimed UMB sold artwork to insiders at discounts, sold other pieces without approval, did a poor job of appraising the value of the collection and failed to monetize Benton’s estate through copyrights and licenses.
In all, the plaintiff’s case portrays UMB as having treated Benton’s art collection as its own, particularly its former chairman and prominent Kansas City civic leader, the late Crosby Kemper, Jr. The family seeks at least $85 million in damages.
The trial,...
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