Newcomb “Successor” Files Lawsuit
Great, Great, Great-Niece Asks Court to Order Tulane to Honor Donor’s Intentions and Reopen H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College
NEW ORLEANS—Just weeks after the Louisiana Supreme Court opened the door to a legal challenge of Tulane University’s decision to dissolve its women’s college, a great, great, great- niece of the college’s founding benefactor, Josephine Louise Newcomb, has filed suit challenging the university’s controversial decision.
The new lawsuit in the ongoing battle to save Newcomb College, Tulane’s historic coordinate women’s college, was filed by Susan Henderson Montgomery. The lawsuit requests declaratory relief and an order enforcing the condition and/or charge Mrs. Newcomb placed on her donations to the Tulane Board.
Montgomery’s petition is the latest effort in a series of legal actions by relatives of Mrs. Newcomb challenging Tulane’s decision to dissolve the college and seize its endowment as part of its post-Katrina “Renewal Plan.” The efforts to save the college are being supported by the Future of Newcomb College (TFoNC), an organization of donors and supporters dedicated to preserving the popular school.
Montgomery’s legal action against Tulane comes after the recent Louisiana Supreme Court ruling in Howard v. Tulane, the high-profile donor intent lawsuit filed by other relatives of Mrs. Newcomb. In their ruling, the Justices found that “Louisiana law grants a would-be heir or legatee standing to enforce a condition of a donation.” As Montgomery’s just-filed petition makes evident, she is not only a blood relative but also a successor of Josephine Louise Newcomb, as that word is “defined in the recent Supreme Court decision.”
“Because there is no question that Montgomery is a successor to Josephine Louise Newcomb, her petition should allow the courts to get quickly to the most critical outstanding question related to Tulane’s dissolution of Newcomb College: Did the Tulane Board violate the condition of Mrs. Newcomb’s donations, which was to create, maintain and operate the college?” said Renée Seblatnigg, president of TFoNC.
Montgomery’s petition is being filed with the Civil District Court of the Parish of Orleans, where presiding Judge Rosemary Ledet originally found in Howard v. Tulane that a ‘clear reading of Mrs. Newcomb’s will shows that she intended for Tulane to use the balance of her estate to maintain a women’s higher education college.’
“Given Judge Ledet’s earlier ruling, we are confident the court will uphold its original position that Mrs. Newcomb’s endowment was given for the sole purpose of supporting Newcomb College, will find that the plaintiff bringing suit is the correct plaintiff, and will grant that the remedy sought, the re-opening of Newcomb College, is an appropriate one,” added Seblatnigg.
Susan Henderson Montgomery v. Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund, as the new lawsuit is known, specifically asks the courts to:
· Confirm that Mrs. Newcomb’s donations to the Tulane Board were subject to a condition or charge;
· Confirm that such condition or charge was that the Tulane Board maintain and operate Newcomb College;
· Confirm that the Tulane Board from 1886 to 2005 accepted and performed the charge and condition that Mrs. Newcomb placed on these donations; and
· Order the Tulane Board to honor the condition and charge in Mrs. Newcomb’s will by reopening and operating Newcomb College and restoring its endowment.
To read press reports, click News & Updates.
