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LITIGATION REPORT

[[underlined]] NEW CASES [[/underlined]]:

1. [[underlined]] Anchorena v. District of Columbia v. United States of America and Robert McCormick Adams, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution [[/underlined]]

This suit was originally brought in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, for $250,000. First-party plaintiff, Anchorena, alleges that she sustained injuries and property damage in an automobile accident caused as a result of the District of Columbia's negligent placement of a concrete barricade in the 800 block of Independence Avenue, S.W., and on September 29, 1987, the District of Columbia filed a third-party complaint in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia against the United States and Robert McCormick Adams, alleging that it, if adjudged negligent, would be entitled to indemnification or, in the alternative, contribution from the Smithsonian Institution, pursuant to a construction permit issued by the District. On October 29, 1987, the case was removed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Pretrial discovery proceedings are in progress.

2. [[underlined]] Beatty v. Smithsonian Institution, et al. [[/underlined]]

This is a will contest proceeding brought on September 3, 1987, in the Common Pleas Court (Probate Division) of Jackson County, Ohio, by the heirs of Florence F. Evans. Under Item SEVENTH of the will, the Smithsonian Institution is to receive certain Indian relics purported to have belonged to Chief Sitting Bull. As the Institution has no knowledge of the principal matters at issue in the proceeding, no formal appearance by the Smithsonian has been entered. The Institution is being kept informed of developments, however, by both the executor of the estate and counsel for the estate.

3. [[underlined]] Mahan v. United States [[/underlined]]

The complaint in this suit, filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria Division), was received on December 7, 1987. Plaintiff seeks $350,000 for injuries allegedly sustained from a fall on July 2, 1985, when exiting an elevated exhibition on the third floor of the National Museum of American History. The administrative tort claim had been denied on the basis that the floor elevations were readily discernible and that there was no negligence on the part of the Smithsonian. The Institution is being represented by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in this matter. Pretrial discovery proceedings are under way.

4. [[underlined]] Posley v. United States [[/underlined]]

This suit, filed November 4, 1987, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, was brought under the Federal Tort Claims Act for injuries plaintiff allegedly sustained when she fell in the National Air and Space Museum on February 7, 1987. Plaintiff seeks $100,000 in damages. The administrative tort claim filed in this matter had been denied because of an