Opinion ID: 2301478
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Entitlement to Charitable Immunity

Text: [¶ 9] Coulombe contends that The Salvation Army does not enjoy charitable immunity because it derives a large portion of its income from investments rather than charitable donations. [¶ 10] An organization is entitled to charitable immunity if it `has no capital stock and no provision for making dividends or profits' and ... derive[s] its funds `mainly from public and private charity, ... hold[ing] them in trust for the object of the institution.' Child v. Cent. Me. Med. Ctr., 575 A.2d 318, 319 (Me.1990) (alterations in original) (quoting Webber Hosp. Ass'n v. McKenzie, 104 Me. 320, 329, 71 A. 1032, 1036 (1908)). We have acknowledged two rationales for the requirement that for charitable immunity to apply, funds come mainly from charitable sources: `(1) that funds donated for charitable purposes are held in trust to be used exclusively for those purposes, and (2) that to permit the invasion of these funds to satisfy tort claims would destroy the sources of charitable support upon which the enterprise depends.' Id. at 320 (quoting Thompson v. Mercy Hosp., 483 A.2d 706, 707-08 (Me.1984)). The Salvation Army bears the burden of establishing that it is entitled to charitable immunity. See id. [¶ 11] Any return on The Salvation Army's investment of charitable funds constitutes income from public [or] private charity. Child, 575 A.2d at 319 (internal quotation marks omitted). That The Salvation Army invested charitable donations does not deprive it of charitable immunity. Moreover, even without including investment income, The Salvation Army receives over fifty percent of its income from charitable sources, which fact distinguishes this case from those we decided in the past. See id. at 320 (concluding that a hospital failed to establish charitable immunity where it derived less than one percent of its funds from charitable contributions); Thompson, 483 A.2d at 708 (concluding no charitable immunity where the hospital derived only a small fraction of its revenues from charitable donations and its survival did not depend on charitable sources). The Salvation Army is, therefore, entitled to charitable immunity unless it waived that immunity by maintaining insurance.