Fearless Girl’s Kristen Visbal sued for breach of contract

Fearless Girl sculptor Kristen Visbal is being sued for breach of contract by the U.S. Coast Guard Alumni Association for failing to make the organization a 9-foot-tall statue of Alexander Hamilton.

In a lawsuit filed Jan. 7 in Sussex County Superior Court, the alumni association says it entered into an agreement with Visbal in February 2017 to produce the statue by Oct. 11, 2018. The statue of Hamilton, the Coast Guard’s founder, was a planned gift from the 1963 class of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.

“Time was of the essence for performance of the art agreement,” reads the lawsuit.

Visbal, a Lewes-based artist, gained international acclaim in March 2017 after her Fearless Girl statue, standing down the bull on Wall Street, was unveiled as part of International Women’s Day. She was contracted by State Street Global Advisors to created the work as a call for inclusion of women in the male-dominated Wall Street community.

The lawsuit says the alumni association paid $28,102.25, obligating Visbal to produce the statue’s primary model by April 17, 2017.

When that work was not completed, the lawsuit says the alumni association sent a formal notice of default in March 2018. According to the lawsuit, Visbal didn’t respond to the default letter. The alumni association formally terminated the contract in June 2018, demanding return of the money.

The lawsuit says Visbal has acknowledged she owes the alumni association money, but has not returned it.

The alumni association is seeking the $28,000, consequential damages in an amount to be proven, pre-judgment interest, post-judgment interest and costs of the lawsuit.

Visbal could not be reached for comment.