April 28 (Bloomberg) -- Jazz at Lincoln Center, the world’s largest performing-arts center for jazz, said it’s discussing a settlement with Pennsylvania insurance executive Andre V. Duggin over $327,500 in promised donations.

On April 15, Jazz at Lincoln Center sued Duggin, chief executive officer of AV International, one of the largest minority-controlled U.S. insurance companies, claiming he reneged midway through a five-year commitment to donate $500,000.

“The parties are in discussion and are confident that they can resolve this matter amicably,” Mary Fiance Fuss, a spokeswoman for Jazz at Lincoln Center, said in an e-mail yesterday. She declined to comment further. Duggin didn’t return a phone call to his office.

The tussle recalls a larger spat at the neighboring Metropolitan Opera, when money manager Alberto Vilar didn’t fulfill more than $20 million in pledges and his name was removed from the Met’s Grand Tier in 2003. Vilar was convicted of fraud in November 2008.

In recognition of Duggin’s pledge to Jazz at Lincoln Center, it dedicated a plaque with his name on the wall of Frederick P. Rose Hall, the suit says. On June 16, 2005, two weeks after joining the board, Duggin wrote in a letter that he will contribute $500,000 to the organization’s “capital fund drive,” the suit says.

“About 50 percent of JALC’s contributed income comes directly from members of the board or from their fundraising efforts,” the suit says.

Duggin agreed to pay $100,000 each year for five years, with the first payment due by Dec. 31, 2005. The suit says he made that payment on time, with shares of UnitedHealth Group Inc., the biggest U.S. health insurer by sales.

Meeting Payment

Duggin missed the Dec. 31, 2006, second deadline, meeting the payment four months later, again with UnitedHealth shares, the suit says. Jazz at Lincoln Center said it sold the stock for $99,412.50.

The third and fourth installments, due at the end of 2007 and 2008, remain unpaid, the suit says. In January 2008, Duggin said Jazz at Lincoln Center “would not receive the monies remaining due and owing it in accordance with the pledge and payment schedule,” the suit says. Duggin resigned from the board of the center last year, the New York Post reported.

Duggin also failed make good on pledges associated with galas in 2006 and 2007, totaling $27,500, according to the suit. The center is suing for breach of contract and “anticipatory breach.”

Jazz at Lincoln Center seeks the $227,500 it says it’s owed, plus the $100,000 due at the end of this year, plus interest and attorney’s fees, according to the suit.

To contact the writer on this story: Philip Boroff in New York at pboroff@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 28, 2009 00:01 EDT