Princeton Settles Money Battle Over Gift

Princeton has settled its dispute with the heirs of the A&P grocery fortune. This has ended a long legal battle over how closely a university must obey the terms of a gift.

A&P had given Princeton a $35 million gift endowment to be used for the education of graduate students studying government. The heirs sued because they claimed that Princeton was misusing the gift. The case was scheduled for trial, but the parties have settled, leaving Princeton returning about $100 million back the heirs. The settlement leaves open some important questions that might have been answered had there been an opinion, e.g. the strength of donor intent.

The New York Times has the whole story.

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.