March 1, 2010

Judges’ Decision Will Determine Whether Donor Intent Will be Protected and Enforced in Louisiana

Louisiana’s Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal will hear oral arguments on March 4 in the landmark “donor intent” lawsuit, Susan Henderson Montgomery v. Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund (Montgomery v. Tulane), setting the stage for an important ruling that will decide whether Tulane must use the gifts of Newcomb College’s founding benefactor for the purpose for which they were given.

The Court’s decision could affect the tens of thousands of charities operating in Louisiana. If the Court fails to uphold the legal and moral principle that designated charitable gifts must be used for the purpose for which they were given, many civic-minded philanthropists probably will take their donations elsewhere.

The March 4 appeals court hearing before a three-judge panel is the next step in a lawsuit filed by a successor to the original benefactor of Newcomb College, Tulane University’s historic women’s coordinate college. The college was established through the generosity of Josephine Louise LeMonnier Newcomb, who donated the funds to establish and operate the college in perpetuity in memory of her daughter. The plaintiff, Mrs. Newcomb’s great great great niece, is challenging the Tulane Board’s 2005 decision to close Newcomb College and divert its funds to other purposes.

On August 28, 2009, in the most recent ruling in the case, the trial court denied the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment, finding – erroneously, the plaintiff claims – that Mrs. Newcomb’s will did not contain an enforceable, conditional obligation on how to use the money she donated.

As the plaintiff’s brief to the appeals court explains: “Every time Mrs. Newcomb gave money to Tulane, she reiterated that it should be used for Newcomb College and the Tulane Board in its acceptance of the donations acknowledged the condition.”

“When you view all of the documents that accompanied the gifts Mrs. Newcomb made during her lifetime, Mrs. Newcomb’s will, and the many Tulane Board resolutions since 1886 accepting the conditions and limitations imposed by Mrs. Newcomb – as you are supposed to by law – it becomes clear that the Tulane Board reinterpreted Mrs. Newcomb’s will to suit its own purposes, walked away from its moral and legal obligations to Mrs. Newcomb, and violated the clear intent of one of its most generous donors. Surely the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal will see this,” said Renee Seblatnigg, president of The Future of Newcomb College (TFoNC) www.newcomblives.com, a nonprofit organization of donors and supporters dedicated to preserving the popular women’s college.

The plaintiff is asking the Court of Appeal to order the Tulane Board to reopen Newcomb College and operate it as Tulane’s separate coordinate college for women in the same manner, and with the same structure, programs and endowments, as it did in 2005.

“Contrary to the Tulane Board’s expected dire warnings, the reinstitution of Newcomb College would not be difficult or expensive,” said Seblatnigg. “After all, Tulane operated and maintained Newcomb College for nearly 119 years, including during the Great Depression, two World Wars, various natural disasters and epidemics of yellow fever and the bubonic plague. There is no compelling reason the college shouldn’t continue to exist today.”

Note: The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal is located at 410 Royal Street in New Orleans.

BE IN COURT, GATHER AFTERWARDS: Let us know at info@newcomblives.com if you will be at the hearing, and please join TFoNC afterwards for refreshments at the Place d’Armes, www.placedarmes.com, in the French Quarter at 625 St. Ann Street at Chartres.

BE INVOLVED: Join conference calls Tuesday nights, March 2nd and March 9th, at 9:00 p.m. EST to hear updates about the case, to ask questions and to share news and ideas with other supporters on the call.

Call-in Number: 1-218-936-4700; access Code: 8747287#

BE INVESTED: USE YOUR CREDIT CARD AND CHARGE YOUR DONATION AT OUR WEBSITE, www.newcomblives.com, or SEND YOUR CHECK TO:

TFoNC c/o Paige Gold

3909 Rust Hill Place

Fairfax, VA 22030

WHO WAS JOSPHINE LOUISE NEWCOMB? – (Continued)

(For the complete timeline of Mrs. Newcomb’s life, click here.)

The college opened in the fall of 1887 in a house on Howard Avenue near Lee Circle. Although she did not visit New Orleans at that time—in fact, she had not been to the city for more than 15 years–Josephine Louise was actively involved in every aspect of the college’s development, writing frequently to Brandt V.B. Dixon, president of the college, and Col. Johnston, president of the university. She supplied the necessary money to provide furnishings that met her specifications and to decorate the chapel, and she asked that the college observe her daughter’s birth and death dates with a chapel service.

The young college soon outgrew its original quarters, and in 1889 Josephine Louise donated $25,000 to buy the Burnside house and three acres of land at 1220 Washington Avenue. The next year the college moved to its new Garden District campus where it remained until 1920. (To be continued.)