Norton Museum settles dispute with Verity Partners

The West Palm Beach museum said the company withheld the PIN needed to transfer its phone service.

Adam Schrader

May 19, 2026 - 2 min read

The Norton Museum of Art and its former phone provider have settled a federal lawsuit over the West Palm Beach museum’s phone service, ending a case Urgent Matter followed from complaint to resolution.

The parties filed a joint notice of settlement April 14 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, saying they had “reached a settlement to resolve all claims and counterclaims.” The notice did not disclose the terms of the agreement.

The museum sued Verity Partners in October, alleging the company withheld the PIN needed to transfer its phone numbers to a new provider. The museum later said it received the PIN on November 25, more than eight months after first requesting it and only after the lawsuit was filed.

Verity denied that it refused to provide the PIN or violated federal number portability rules, and countersued the museum in February. The company alleged the museum missed or made late payments, failed to cooperate with service requests and owed termination fees after ending telephone services.

The settlement has not yet formally closed the case. Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks initially ordered the parties to file closing documents by April 27 but extended the deadline after they failed to do so. On May 18, he ordered them to file a joint stipulation of dismissal by May 22.

Middlebrooks wrote that the parties had not sufficiently explained why more time was needed, especially after telling the court in April they had reached the settlement.

He warned that failure to file the dismissal paperwork or consent to magistrate jurisdiction by May 22 could result in a dismissal.

The case was headed for a July 27 jury trial before the settlement notice was filed.

The case is among the first Urgent Matter tracked from filing through settlement as part of its art lawsuit coverage.