Smith-Randall World Cup Lawsuit: Wyland’s $25M VARA Claim

Marine artist Wyland has filed a $25 million federal lawsuit against FIFA, two related World Cup entities, and the owner of a downtown Dallas building after crews painted over his eight-story Ocean Life mural in May 2026 to clear the wall for World Cup artwork. The complaint, filed June 1, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, alleges the destruction violated the Visual Artists Rights Act, the 1990 federal statute that protects visual artists from having recognized works destroyed without notice or consent.¹

What Was Painted Over

Wyland began painting Ocean Life, also catalogued as “Whaling Wall 82,” on the Texas Utilities Building at 505 North Akard Street in downtown Dallas on April 7, 1999. The work wrapped two sides of the building and reached 82 feet high and 164 feet wide on its largest face. According to the Dallas Morning News, Wyland gifted the mural to the city.²

During the week of May 14, 2026, crews began covering the mural in blue paint. By May 18, most of it was gone. The stated purpose was to replace it with a new mural to “celebrate and build excitement for the upcoming World Cup 2026,” according to the North Texas FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee.³ Wyland told reporters he was “blindsided,” saying he learned about it only when a Dallas resident contacted his assistant.⁴ He later described the damage as irreparable: “It absolutely destroyed the entire mural.”

Work on the replacement halted after Wyland’s legal team sent a cease-and-desist letter. The Dallas mural was the 82nd in Wyland’s “Whaling Walls” series, all produced free of charge through his nonprofit Wyland Foundation.⁵

Who Wyland Is Suing

The complaint, Wyland v. Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) et al., case number 3:26-cv-01794, was drawn to Judge Ada Brown. Summonses went out to all defendants on June 2.¹ The defendants are:

Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)
FIFA (Americas), Inc.
FWC2026 US, Inc., a Coral Gables, Florida nonprofit responsible for planning the 2026 tournament in the United States⁶
3PZ Property Company, LLC
Slate Asset Management, the building’s Toronto-based owner and manager⁷

Neither Downtown Dallas Inc. nor the North Texas FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee was named, though both figure prominently in how the project came together.⁷ Wyland is represented by Nick Roide of Kessler Collins PC and the firm Carrington Coleman Sloman & Blumenthal.⁸ Andrea Perez, an attorney on the team, said the case “is about integrity of the artwork and of the law. VARA exists so that culturally significant pieces are treated with dignity and care.”⁹

The Visual Artists Rights Act Claim

The Visual Artists Rights Act grants visual artists “moral rights,” including the right to prevent the intentional destruction of a work of “recognized stature.” When artwork is integrated into a building and cannot be removed without being destroyed, the owner generally cannot eliminate it without the artist’s written consent. Even for work that could be removed, the owner must make a good-faith effort to notify the artist, who then has 90 days to arrange removal at the artist’s own expense.¹⁰

Wyland’s complaint alleges no one contacted him before the mural was covered and that he never signed a written waiver.¹¹ For the claim to succeed, a court would need to find that Ocean Life qualifies as a work of “recognized stature.” VARA does not define that phrase precisely, and courts have looked at expert testimony, media coverage, and community recognition to make the determination.

If the destruction is found to be “willful,” statutory damages under VARA can reach $150,000 per work, with attorney’s fees and injunctive relief also available.

How the $25 Million Ask Compares

Wyland’s demand would far exceed any award under VARA to date.¹² The largest VARA recovery came from the 5Pointz dispute in New York, where in 2018 a federal judge awarded $6.75 million to 21 graffiti and street artists after a property owner whitewashed dozens of murals on a Long Island City warehouse without the required 90 days’ notice. The court found the destruction “willful,” and the Second Circuit upheld the judgment.¹³ Earlier, muralist Kent Twitchell reached a $1.1 million settlement around 2008 after his mural of Ed Ruscha was painted over on a government-owned Los Angeles building.¹⁴

Wyland has pledged to donate any settlement funds to “local communities, conservation efforts, and school art programs.”¹⁵

Who Actually Ordered the Wall Painted

Emails obtained by the Dallas Morning News show the project originated when an employee of Downtown Dallas Inc. identified the Akard Street site as an “ideal landing spot” for a World Cup mural, calling the existing artwork “over 30 years old and past its useful life.”¹⁰ DDI then introduced the North Texas FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee to Slate Asset Management.¹⁶

After the backlash began, every party distanced itself. DDI president Jennifer Scripps said the organization “did not commission, fund, or manage this project.”¹⁶ Slate said it had donated the wall space without compensation and “was told by the local groups that Mr. Wyland had been notified.”¹⁷ FIFA declared it had “no involvement in this whatsoever” and pointed to the local organizing committee.¹¹ Monica Paul, president of that committee, acknowledged “gaps in the process, gaps in communication” and “assumptions that it had been vetted by all partners.”¹⁸

Sorting out which of those parties bore the notice obligation, and which will ultimately pay, is the work the lawsuit sets up.

Where the Case Stands

As of early June 2026, the litigation is in its opening days. Summonses have been issued to all five defendants, and no responsive motions or hearing dates appear on the docket.¹ Work on the replacement mural remains stopped, and the organizing committee has said it plans to preserve a small portion of the original painting on the building’s northwest corner.¹⁸ Wyland has framed the fight beyond his own painting. “If they can get away with it, then all the public art in Dallas and all the public art in America is at risk,” he told Fox 4 News.¹⁵

1
PACER Monitor. Wyland v. Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) et al
2
Dallas Morning News. Wyland Whales Mural Dallas FIFA Federal Lawsuit
3
NBC DFW. Iconic Whale Wall Mural Painted Over
4
NPR. The Removal of a Whale Mural in Dallas Ahead of World Cup Has Caused a Stir
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CBS News. The Artist Wyland and His Whaling Walls
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GuideStar. FWC2026 US Inc
7
NBC DFW. Wyland 25 Million Lawsuit Dallas Whale Mural
8
Bloomberg Law. FIFA Spat Over Dallas Whale Mural Tests Power of Artists Rights
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VnExpress. Artist Sues for 25M After Dallas Ocean Mural Painted Over
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The Guardian. Dallas FIFA Mural Lawsuit Robert Wyland
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ESPN. Artist Sues FIFA 25M Dallas Whale Mural Painted World Cup
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New York Times. Dallas Whale Mural Wyland Lawsuit FIFA World Cup Texas
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SSRN. 5Pointz VARA Analysis
14
Artsy. Why the Visual Artists Rights Act Is Failing to Protect Street Art and Murals
15
Fox 4 News. Dallas Whale Wall Mural Wyland World Cup
16
D Magazine. Everything We Know About the Downtown Dallas Whale Mural
17
Al Jazeera. US Artist Sues FIFA Over Destruction of Dallas Whale Mural for World Cup
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Dallas Morning News. What to Know Two Dallas FIFA World Cup Murals