Case Name: Parma Matthis HOWARD and Jane Matthis Smith v. ADMINISTRATORS OF the TULANE EDUCATIONAL FUND
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 2007-10-22
Citations: 970 So. 2d 21
Docket Number: No. 2006-CA-1276
Parties: Parma Matthis HOWARD and Jane Matthis Smith v. ADMINISTRATORS OF the TULANE EDUCATIONAL FUND.
Judges: (Court composed of Judge CHARLES R. JONES, Judge PATRICIA RIVET MURRAY, and Judge MAX N. TOBIAS JR.).
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 970
Pages: 21–36

Head Matter:
Parma Matthis HOWARD and Jane Matthis Smith v. ADMINISTRATORS OF the TULANE EDUCATIONAL FUND.
No. 2006-CA-1276.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.
Oct. 22, 2007.
Daniel J. Caruso, John F. Shreves, Shawn L. Holahan, Simon Peragine Smith & Redfearn, LLP, New Orleans, LA, for Plaintiff/Appellant.
Dennis H. Tracey III, Catherine E. Stetson, R. Brian Black, Hogan & Hart-son, L.L.P., New York, NY, and Edward H. Bergin Genevieve M. Hartel, Jones Walker Waechter Poitevent Carrere & De-negre, L.L.P., New Orleans, LA, for Defendant/Appellee.
(Court composed of Judge CHARLES R. JONES, Judge PATRICIA RIVET MURRAY, and Judge MAX N. TOBIAS JR.).

Opinion:
CHARLES R. JONES, Judge.
_JjThe Appellants, Parma Matthis Howard and Jane Matthis Smith, seek review of a district court judgment denying their petition for a preliminary injunction against the Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund d/b/a Tulane University (hereinafter referred to as "Tulane").
Facts and Procedural History
In 1886, Mrs. Josephine Louise New-comb donated $100,000.00 to Tulane University — an all male institution at the time — in memory of her deceased daughter, H. Sophie Newcomb. In her correspondence of October 11, 1886, to Tulane, Mrs. Newcomb advised that she was donating the aforementioned sum to the university for the establishment of the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College. Mrs. Newcomb explained the reason for her donation:
Feeling a deep personal sympathy with the people of New Orleans, and a strong desire to advance the cause of female education in Louisiana, and believing also that I shall find in the Board selected by the benevolent Paul Tulane, the wisest and safest custodian of the fund I propose to give, I hereby donate to your Board the sum of One Hundred Thousand Dollars to be used in establishing the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, in the Tulane University of Lousia-na, for Uthe higher Education of white girls and young women....
I do not mean in this my act of donation to impose upon you restrictions which will allow the intervention of any person or persons to control, regulate, or interfere with your disposition of this fund, which is committed fully and solely to your care and discretion with entire confidence in your fideletyffidelity] and wisdom.
Mrs. Newcomb continued to donate monies to Newcomb College through Tulane until her death on April 7,1901.
In her olographic will, dated May 12, 1898, Mrs. Newcomb specifically stated:
I have implicit confidence that the 'Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund' will continue to use and apply the benefactions, and property, I have bestowed and may give, for the present and future development of this Department of the University Known [sic] as the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College which engrosses my thought and purposes, and is endeared to me by such hallowed associations.
Tulane was Mrs. Newcomb's universal legatee and as such inherited the bulk of her estate, approximately $2,668,409.00, for the development of Newcomb College.
After Mrs. Newcomb's death, Tulane continued to operate Newcomb College as a separate college within its University for over a 100 years. However, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund decided to merge Newcomb College and Tulane College pursuant to Tulane's post-Katrina renewal plan.
On May 16, 2006, Ms. Howard and Ms. Smith, who aver that they are Mrs. New-comb's great-great-nieces, sued Tulane to enjoin it from closing and consolidating Newcomb College into a unified New-comb-Tulane College. Ms. Howard and Ms. Smith (hereinafter referred to as "the Nieces") | .¡sought a preliminary injunction as well as a permanent injunction and a declaratory judgment ordering Tulane to carry out what they allege is a specific condition Mrs. Newcomb placed on her inter vivos donations and testamentary bequest: to maintain H. Sophie Newcomb College as a separate college for women specifically, within Tulane University in memory of H. Sophie Newcomb. In response, Tulane filed an exception of prescription, res judicata, no right of action and no cause of action.
On June 12, 2006, the district court heard the Nieces petition for injunctive relief. Tulane's exceptions were also to be heard on this date, but were not acted upon by the district court. The district court denied the Nieces' petition for preliminary injunction. It is from this judgment that the Nieces filed the instant appeal.
Assignments of Error
The Nieces raise four (4) issues on appeal:
1. The district court erred as a matter of law in not carrying out Mrs. New-comb's intent for Tulane — as her universal legatee — to use the balance of her estate to maintain a women's higher education college and in not enjoining the Tulane Board from abolishing Newcomb College through its Renewal Plan and Resolutions;
2. The district court erred as a matter of law in ruling that the provision of Mrs. Newcomb's will did not include "an enforceable conditional obligation" sufficient to support the granting of a preliminary injunction enjoining the implementation of the Tulane Board's Renewal Plan and Resolutions, that abolish Newcomb College;
3. The district court erred as a matter of fact and law in ruling that the Nieces failed to make a prima facie case that they will suffer | irreparable harm by the Tulane Board's implementation of the renewal plan; and
4. The district court erred as a matter of fact and law in ruling that the Nieces failed to make a prima facie case that they will prevail on the merits in showing that abolishing Newcomb College violates the express terms of Mrs. Newcomb's will.
Before addressing the merits of the Nieces petition for injunctive relief, we shall first address the issue of whether the Nieces have a right to bring this action.
The Nieces' Right of Action
In the instant appeal, the Nieces seek a preliminary injunction against Tulane to enjoin the merger of Newcomb College with Tulane's other undergraduate colleges pursuant to Tulane's post-Katrina Renewal Plan. The bringing of this action, however, poses a legal question that has yet to be resolved by Louisiana jurisprudence: can a "non-legatee/would-be heir" file suit for injunctive relief on behalf of a testator/donor? While we note that Tulane — in its reply brief — raised the issue of whether the Nieces had standing to file the instant lawsuit, Tulane did not file an answer to the appeal. Thus, Tulane is not entitled to dismissal of the appeal absent an answer to the appeal. Nevertheless, in the interest of judicial economy, we address the issue of whether the Nieces have a right of action. La.C.C.P. art. 927(B).
"There are two kinds of succession: testate and intestate." La. C.C. art. 873. Accordingly, there are two kinds of succes sors: testate successors, who are called legatees, and intestate successors, who are called heirs. La.C.C. art. 876. "Thus, a legatee, as that term is understood, is one entitled to take possession of the estate of the deceased pursuant to the terms of a |fitestament." In re Succession of Scott, 05-2609, p. 4 (La.App. 1 Cir. 11/3/06), 950 So.2d 846, 848. A testator, therefore, does not have heirs, but may theoretically have would-be heirs.
In the instant case, Tulane points out that Mrs. Newcomb died fully testate leaving the bulk of her estate to Tulane. Tulane contends that the Nieces do not have standing to bring the instant suit against Tulane because neither the Nieces nor their ancestors were Mrs. Newcomb's legatees. Yet, the Nieces claim that Louisiana law and jurisprudence recognize that they have a right of action. For clarity, we will separately discuss the Nieces right to bring an action on Mrs. Newcomb's donations inter vivos and her testamentary bequest.
Inter Vivos Donations
In support of their contention that a testator's collateral relatives and would-be intestate heirs can sue on behalf of the testator/ relative to enforce a condition of an inter vivos donation, the Nieces cite two (2) cases: Frame v. Shreveport Anti-Tuberculosis League, 538 So.2d 684 (La.App. 2 Cir.1989), writ denied, 541 So.2d 896 (La.1989) and Voinche v. Town of Marksville, 124 La. 712, 50 So. 662 (1909).
In Frame, the heirs of a donor sued to revoke the donor's inter vivos donation of approximately 55 acres of land because the ultimate donee of property — the State— failed to comply with a condition of the donation. The donor made an inter vivos donation to the Shreveport Anti-Tuberculosis League under the condition that the property was to be used as a tuberculosis sanitarium or some other equally charitable purpose. The donation was made |fiwith the stipulation that the donation would be revoked if the property was not used for the intended or an equally charitable purpose.
In Voinche, an heir sued to revoke his relative's inter vivos donation of immovable property to the town of Marksville. Said property was donated to the town solely for the establishment of a market. Subsequent to the donor's death, the town failed to operate the store on the property and even allocated a portion of the land to construct a street. Just as in Frame, the donor's heir sued to revoke the donation pursuant to a reversionary clause contained within the act of donation.
In both Frame and Voinche, the heirs were suing for the revocation of the donations, not for injunctive relief, pursuant to reversionary clauses contained in the acts of donation. Also, it is unknown from reading these cases whether the donors died intestate. If they did, their heirs had a legally recognized right to pursue revocation because if the conditions of said donations were not being fulfilled, the donated properties would return to their relatives' respective estates.
These cases do not provide a precedent for non-legatee/would-be heirs to sue for injunctive relief on behalf of a donor, who died testate. Furthermore, these cases do not demonstrate that non-legatees/would-be heirs have the right to sue for injunc-tive relief against a donee that is also their relative's universal legatee.
Moreover, Mrs. Newcomb's initial letter advising Tulane of her donation stated:
I do not mean in this my act of donation to impose upon you restrictions which will allow the intervention of any person or-persons to control, regulate, or interfere with your disposition of this fund, which is committed fully and solely to your care and discretion with entire confidence in your fidelety and wisdom.
|7Mrs. Newcomb's words lucidly convey that she did not want anyone to tamper with Tulane's administration of her donation. She expresses her unconditional trust in Tulane's ability to manage her donation. Her language is clear and unambiguous. The donation does not contain a reversionary clause. Therefore, given the plain meaning of these words, we find that these terms bar the Nieces from interfering in Tulane's administration of Mrs. Newcomb's donations inter vivos. Thus, we do not find that thq Nieces have a right to assert a claim for injunctive relief relative to Mrs. Newcomb's donations inter vivos.
Mortis Causa Donation
The Nieces cite Braquet v. Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund, 304 So.2d 720 (La.App. 4 Cir.1974) in support of their position that a decedent's collateral relatives and would-be intestate heirs may sue on a testator's behalf to enforce a condition of a will.
In Braquet, the would-be heirs of a testator brought an action to nullify a bequest to the Administrators of Tulanes Educational Fund alleging that Tulane failed to fulfill a testamentary condition. The district court dismissed the action, but set a time limit of eighteen (18) months for Tulane to fulfill the testamentary condition, which mandated the construction of a chapel memorializing the testator's sister. The relatives appealed.
On appeal, we held that a delay of thirteen (13) years in fulfilling the condition was unreasonable; yet, in light of the testator's emphatic intent, Tulane was given further opportunity to construct the chapel. The Court modified the trial court's judgment, allowing Tulane twelve (12) months to begin construction and twenty-four (24) months to complete construction.
I «The facts of this case are distinguishable from the instant case. In Braquet, the collateral heirs filed suit in just over a decade after the testator's passing because Tulane had not constructed a chapel in fulfillment of the testator's condition. However, in the instant case, Mrs. New-comb's dream of educating young women was realized before she passed and Tulane has maintained Newcomb College for over 100 years after her death.
The would-be heirs in Braquet filed a petition to have the legacy to Tulane revoked for nonperformance of the condition attached to its acceptance. The reversion-ary heirs were challenging Tulane's failure to timely construct a chapel, not because they wanted the chapel to be constructed, rather they wanted the bequest to Tulane nullified in order that they would receive the proceeds from their relative's estate. If the donation to Tulane would have been nullified, the estate would have devolved under the- laws of intestacy to the heirs because Tulane was the sole legatee of the testator's will. Despite the relatives' petition, this Court chose to uphold the testator's intent and designated a timeline within which Tulane was to construct the chapel.
In the instant case, the Nieces solely seek injunctive relief. They are not pursuing the nullification of the bequest in order that they might procure the assets of Mrs. Newcomb's estate from Tulane. Furthermore, in Braquet, neither this Court nor the district court acknowledged the right of collateral heirs to bring their suit. Indeed, the district court dismissed the suit and this Court did not address whether the plaintiffs had standing.
Lastly, unlike in Braquet, the district court in this case did not find that Mrs. Newcomb made a conditional bequest. In its reasons for judgment, the district court rationalized:
lflThe Court finds that the provisions of Mrs. Newcomb's will did not create an enforceable conditional obligation that would support the granting of a preliminary injunction prohibiting Tulane from abolishing Newcomb College as a separate college within Tulane Universisty [sic].
In Mrs. Newcomb's will, she stated:
I have implicit confidence that the 'Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund' will continue to use and apply the benefactions, and property, I have bestowed and may give, for the present and future development of this Department of the University Known [sic] as the 'H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College' which engrosses my thought and purposes, and is endeared' to me by such hallowed associations.
We agree with the district courts finding that Mrs. Newcomb did not impose a conditional obligation on her bequest. The language contained in Mrs. Newcombs will is more precatory in nature than it is binding. For instance, Mrs. Newcombs use of the word "confidence" in her testament reinforces her use of that word in her initial donation inter vivos to Tulane.
Mrs. Newcombs wording conveys that while she entrusted Tulane with the overseeing the development of Newcomb College, she did not impose any real conditions upon the institution to carry out her wishes. We do not find that the Nieces have a right of action against Tulane relating to Mrs. Newcombs donation mortis causa nor do we find that Mrs. Newcomb made a conditional bequest to Tulane in her testament.
Applicability of the Cy Pres Doctrine
The Nieces aver that they have a right to assert their claim under the Cy Pres doctrine. La. R.S. 9:2331, which sets forth the Cy Pres doctrine, states:
|inIn any case in which circumstances have changed since the execution or probate of a will containing a trust or conditional bequest for charitable, educational or eleemosynary purposes, or since the death of the donor who during his lifetime established a trust or made a conditional donation for any of such purposes, and the change in circumstances is such' as to render impractical, impossible or illegal a literal compliance with the terms thereof, the district court having jurisdiction of the succession of the testator or of the domicile of the donee (and in the parish of Orleans, the civil district court) may, upon petition of a trustee, or of the person or corporation having custody or possession of the property subject to said trust, conditional bequest or donation or of any heir, legatee or donee who in the absence or invalidity of such trust, conditional bequest or donation would have been entitled to any part of the property contained therein, in accordance with the procedure hereinafter set forth, enter a judgment directing that such charitable trust, devise or conditional bequest or donation shall be administered or expended in such manner (either generally or specifically defined) as, in the judgment of said court, will most effectively accomplish as nearly as practicable under existing conditions the general purpose of the trust, will or donation, without regard to and free from any specific restriction, limitation or direction contained therein. [Emphasis added.]
In addition to being applicable to donations mortis causa, the Cy Pres doctrine applies to inter vivos donations made before 1970. Ada C. Pollock-Blundon Ass'n, Inc. v. Nieces of Evans, 273 So.2d 552, 554 (La.App. 1 Cir., 1973).
Because we find that none of Mrs. New-comb's donations were conditional, this argument has no merit. Furthermore, no courts in Louisiana nor in any other state have held that an heir has the right to sue for injunctive relief pursuant to this doctrine. Therefore, we do not find that the Nieces have standing under the Cy Pres doctrine.
In Furthermore, even if this doctrine could be applied to the case sub judice, the doctrine seemingly lends more support to Tulane's renewal plan for Newcomb College. Hurricane Katrina was the catalyst that changed the circumstances in which Newcomb College operated and has rendered impractical the operation of a college considering that no female students enrolled for the fall 2006 semester. Consolidating Newcomb College with Tulane's other colleges, conferring degrees to a larger student population bearing H. Sophie Newcomb's name and creating the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College Institute will "most effectively accomplish as nearly as practicable under existing conditions the general purpose" of Mrs. New-comb's desire to have a lasting memorial to her daughter and to provide for the education of women.
We find that the Nieces do not have a right to bring this action. Further, Tulane's argument on appeal relating to the Nieces' lack of standing may be considered by the district court on Tulane's exception of no right of action. Therefore, we pre-termit discussion of the other issues raised on appeal and remand.
Decree
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the district court is affirmed. In light of Tulane's exception of no right of action, which was not acted upon by the district court, this matter is hereby remanded to the district court with instructions to grant the exception of no right of action and to dismiss the appellants' petition for a preliminary injunction. Each party is to bear its own costs.
AFFIRMED.
TOBIAS, J., Dissents and Assigns Reasons.
. Greenwood Cemetery, Alice Bowman and William Robertson were Mrs. Newcomb's only other legatees.