A judge on Wednesday granted a request for a temporary restraining order against the operators of the closed New Mexico Route 66 Museum in Tucumcari, New Mexico, that stops them from removing artifacts and demands the return of the ones that were moved.
The petition for the order accuses the museum’s operators of “willful misconduct, recklessness and fraud.” The museum abruptly closed on July 22.
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The request was filed in district court by a local attorney who helped incorporate the museum in 2012 and advised its board of directors.
The restraining order request was granted less than an hour after ot was filed and will remain in effect for at least 10 days.
The restraining order lists four museum board of directors as the defendants.
The petition for the restraining order asserted that the museum board of directors never called a meeting to dissolve the corporation. It stated that one board member was never notified of any meeting or any decision to close the museum.
The city manager earlier this year found that the museum, housed in the city’s Convention Center, had paid no rent for years and its lease had expired.
Nearly all of the artifacts have been removed from the museum and are believed to be stored in town. The museum’s president, Dave Shine, said earlier this week that the artifacts would be transferred to another museum out of state.
“The New Mexico Route 66 Museum is suffering and will continue to suffer immediate and irreparable injury by having all its equipment, signage and artifacts dispersed out of state, which is the stated intention of the Defendants,” the petition stated.
The temporary restraining order seeks to prohibit the museum’s operators from removing any further property from the museum site. It also seeks an order to return all the removed property to the facility.
The restraining order will expire 10 days after its issuance unless it is extended.
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