Wednesday, June 28, 2000 Case: Operators of art institution, Queen Mary announce settlement   By Paul Young, Staff writer LONG BEACH Ending a long contract dispute between two of the city's premier cultural attractions, operators of the Queen Mary and Museum of Latin American Art announced Tuesday that they settled a $1.7 million lawsuit. Both sides declined to discuss financial details of the settlement, saying terms are confidential. "MoLAA is very happy with the settlement since this amount of money will allow MoLAA to complete the construction of our multipurpose educational and cultural entertainment center, parking lot and events garden," said museum patron and local philanthropist Robert Gumbiner. "Most importantly, justice has been served since a portion of my funds originally allocated to the RMS Foundation will now be used to develop the nonprofit Museum of Latin American Art," added Gumbiner, who launched the museum in late 1996 after helping to found the RMS Foundation, which runs the Queen Mary. The clash began in 1993 when Gumbiner loaned $2 million to the foundation. He later forgave half of the 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 he would donate the other half to RMS if it met specific requirements, Roberts had said, but it did not. MoLAA filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against RMS last year, seeking $1 million plus $700,000 in interest. On May 26, RMS faced MoLAA in Long Beach Superior Court. Judge Margaret Hay issued a summary judgment, a pretrial ruling based on undisputed facts, in favor of the museum. That day, RMS attorney Lawrence Nagler asked Hay to reconsider her ruling because he believed there was a misunderstanding of legal principles. His request was to be heard Tuesday, however, RMS reached an agreement with MoLAA on Monday night. RMS Chairman Joseph Prevratil called the settlement "mutually satisfactory" but would not say how RMS planned to pay the settlement. Most of the sum will be paid in the next 30 days, Gumbiner said.