Mickalene Thomas sues ex-fiancée Racquel Chevremont over Fire Island co-op
The artist wants a judge to force the sale of a Fire Island Pines apartment the two bought together in 2022.
Law and Crime
Artist Mickalene Thomas has sued her former fiancée, collector and curator Racquel Chevremont, asking a court to force the sale of a Fire Island cooperative apartment they own together.
Thomas filed the lawsuit July 8 in New York Supreme Court in Suffolk County, records show. It asks a judge to order the co-op sold and the proceeds split after accounting for what each woman has paid to maintain it.
The apartment is at 119 Atlantic Walk in the Fire Island Pines, in Suffolk County. It is held through 320 shares in Fire Island Pines, Inc., and a lease, documents show.
Thomas and Chevremont each own half and acquired their stakes on January 22, 2022, according to the lawsuit.
“The parties are no longer able to jointly own, manage, possess, use, or enjoy the apartment,” the lawsuit reads. “Irreconcilable disputes have arisen concerning the use, occupancy, maintenance, expenses, and disposition of the apartment.”
Paid subscribers can read the court documents used in this reporting.
Documents: Mickalene Thomas suit against Racquel Chevremont
Records from New York Supreme Court in Suffolk and New York counties.
Adam Schrader
Thomas accused Chevremont of refusing to cooperate in a sale. She wants the court to appoint a referee to determine each side’s interest, oversee a sale and report back.
She said she has paid more than her share of maintenance, taxes, insurance, and repairs, and that Chevremont owes her $57,838.35, plus additional amounts to be determined at trial.
Chevremont sued Thomas in the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan in October, as previously reported by Urgent Matter. She alleged that Thomas exploited her and ran an “abusive work environment” while the two built the artist’s career, and she is seeking more than $10 million.
That suit includes claims of breach of contract, sexual harassment and retaliation. It traces a relationship that began when the two met in 2002 and ended with Chevremont’s firing from Thomas’s studio in May 2022.
Thomas has asked a judge to dismiss the Manhattan case. Her lawyers argued in April that written agreements defined Chevremont as an employee, not a partner, and did not entitle her to a cut of the work she modeled for or the deals she negotiated, Urgent Matter previously reported.
The two bought the Fire Island apartment in January 2022, court records show. That was more than a year after Chevremont said she ended their romantic relationship in October 2020 and about four months before Thomas fired her, according to Chevremont’s suit.
A judge is set to hear arguments on Thomas’s motion to dismiss the Manhattan case on September 11, records show.
Separately, Thomas is also facing a copyright suit in federal court in Chicago. Barbara Karant alleged the artist copied more than a dozen of her photographs of the former Johnson Publishing Company headquarters for installations and collages, Urgent Matter previously reported. That suit was filed in May.
Follow along with other lawsuits at Urgent Matter’s art lawsuit tracker.
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