Saturday, May 27, 2000 QM asks MoLAA ruling review   By Wendy Thomas, Staff writer LONG BEACH The operators of the Queen Mary could be out close to $2 million after losing the first round of a contract dispute with the Museum of Latin American Art. Long Beach Superior Court Judge Margaret Hay has issued a summary judgment a pretrial ruling based on undisputed facts in a 1999 breach-of-contract lawsuit brought by MoLAA against RMS Foundation, which runs the Queen Mary. RMS attorney Lawrence Nagler said Friday that he asked the judge to reconsider her ruling "based on what we believe is a misunderstanding of the applicable legal principals." That request will be heard June 27. The clash of the cultural attractions began in 1993 when local philanthropist Robert Gumbiner loaned $2 million to the RMS Foundation, which he helped found before launching MoLAA in late 1996. Gumbiner later forgave half of RMS' debt but donated the promissory note on the other half to MoLAA, said Clifford W. Roberts Jr., an attorney for the museum. At one point, Gumbiner indicated that he would donate the other $1 million to RMS if certain conditions were met, Roberts said, but they weren't. In court, Nagler argued that the $2 million was always a gift but was structured as a loan for tax reasons. He also argued that MoLAA lacked the standing to recover the money. But loan documents and a promissory note provided to the court indicate the opposite, Roberts said. "In essence, what this judge said is, `You can't create documents that say one thing and then come in and tell me they say something else,"' Roberts said. If last week's judgment stands, interest and attorney's fees could nearly double the $1 million already owed to the museum, he said. "The museum is thrilled," Roberts said. "This will allow us to make new acquisitions and do new things. It's wonderful that this got resolved." RMS Chairman Joseph Prevratil, recently named Entrepreneur of the Year by the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, declined comment on the specifics of the case, but he and Nagler voiced confidence that the judge would eventually rule in RMS' favor. A judge may reconsider a summary judgment only if new laws or new facts have surfaced since the attorneys last argued the case.