Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Washington Blade - November 21, 2005
Andrew Keegan
Cleve Jones, who co-founded the AIDS Memorial Quilt in San Francisco two decades ago, and the Atlanta-based Names Project Foundation, which maintains the quilt, have sparred publicly since 2003.
In a lawsuit filed in San Francisco Superior Court in 2004, Jones claimed wrongful termination when the agency fired him in 2003 after he expressed discontent with directors of the non-profit. Jones had acted as a spokesman for the organization at a yearly salary of $41,500 until his termination.
Jones, who is HIV-positive, wanted to launch a nationwide tour of the entire quilt in 2004, which would eventually wind up on display at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The foundation disagreed.
The legal maneuver was also an attempt by Jones to return the more than 44,000-panel quilt to San Francisco, where it was located before the Names Project moved to Atlanta in 2001.
Earlier this year, Superior Court judges in San Francisco threw out the wrongful firing and breach of contract portion of Jones' suit.
Jones' claim that the foundation intentionally caused him mental distress was allowed to go forward.
In September, Jones dropped the suit as part of a settlement, according to Charles Thompson, a San Francisco attorney representing the foundation in the case.
But demands by Jones during the proceedings have now derailed any settlement, Thompson said.
"The Names Project believed the matter to be resolved," Thompson said Monday. "However, Mr. Jones made unreasonable demands during further negotiations and the court has set a trial date of July 2006."
Thompson would not elaborate on the demands.
Jones, who recently moved from his home in Palm Springs, Ca., to San Francisco, could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.
Under the principal settlement, Jones was to establish his own non-profit to be called the San Francisco Bay Area Friends of the AIDS Memorial Quilt.
The Names Project agreed to send 35 of the 12 feet by 12 feet panels that make up the quilt to San Francisco as a loan to Jones. But that agreement was halted, Thompson said.
"We agreed to provide him with a limited number of panels to display," Thompson said. "The Quilt remains Names Project property at all times."
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