The U.S. government and 11 other defendants have agreed to pay 1.1 million dollars to settle a lawsuit over a mural on a downtown Los Angeles building that disappeared two years ago.

Los Angeles artist Kent Twitchell said Wednesday that he has settled his lawsuit against the federal government and others for painting over his six-story-tall mural "Ed Ruscha Monument," a symbolic portrait of a fellow artist.

The settlement is believed to be the largest awarded under the U.S. Visual Artists Rights Act or the California Art Preservation Act, both of which prohibit removing certain works of public art without notifying the artist.

Art consultants said it still may be possible to restore the mural, which was created between 1978 and 1987 and painted over in June 2006.

The U.S. government will pay 250,000 dollars of the settlement. The other defendants include contractors and subcontractors responsible for managing and maintaining the federal government-owned building, which houses the Los Angeles Jobs Corps Center.

(Xinhua News Agency May 1, 2008)