On December 9 the parties entered into an agreement settling the long-running Robertson v. Princeton litigation. The case arose out of a gift of $35 million in 1961 by A&P heiress Marie Robertson to the Robertson Foundation. The Foundation's funds were dedicated to maintaining and expanding the graduate program of the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, and have been used for that purpose since that time. By June 2008 the funds had grown to about $900 million. In 2002, adult children of Marie Robertson, who sat on the board of the Foundation as family-appointed trustees, sued Princeton and the Princeton-appointed trustees to attempt to wrest control of the funds from Princeton and the Wilson School. The Robertson children claimed, among other things, that Princeton was not using the funds for the intended purpose of preparing students for careers in federal government service. The Firm partnered with Lowenstein Sandler in preparing the case for trial, which was scheduled to commence on January 20, 2009.
The settlement calls for the Robertson Foundation to be dissolved and its funds transferred to a restricted gift at Princeton with the same charitable purpose, as interpreted by Princeton and under Princeton's sole control. Princeton will reimburse another charitable foundation for paying the plaintiffs' legal fees, and will transfer $50 million over seven years, commencing in 2012, to a new foundation for the restricted use of preparing students for careers in government service. The result insures that use of the funds now will be subject exclusively to the academic judgment of Princeton. The settlement remains subject to court approval.
The Simpson Thacher team consisted on the litigation side of Ken Logan, Mark Cunha, Bill Regan, Helena Almeida, Seth Kruglak, Chistine Sebourn, Paige Fleming and Jeff Roether, and on the exempt organizations side of Victoria Bjorklund, David Shevlin, Jennifer Franklin and Jillian Krell, all ably assisted by paralegals Wendy Colon, Stephanie Crosskey, Ashley Lohr and Sabrina Ramlochan
Further information about the settlement and the lawsuit can be obtained by clicking here.