Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1954 [PAGE 5]

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BOARD OF TRUSTEES

[July 16

REPORT OF COMMITTEES ON BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS AND GENERAL POLICY

Mr. Megran, for the Committees on Buildings and Grounds and General Policy, reported on negotiations with attorneys representing the Katsinas interests for a settlement of any claims that they may have against the University because of the decision previously made by the Board of Trustees not to renew the lease of space in the Arcade Building in which the Katsinas interests had been operating a restaurant and which lease terminates August 31, 1952. The joint committee recommends to the Board of Trustees that the University pay the Katsinas interests for permanent improvements they have made in the Arcade Building and for any fixed equipment they leave in the building which the University can use, such improvements and equipment to be specifically listed in any settlement agreement. University officials have advised the committee that in their opinion the value to the University of such improvements and equipment is approximately $12,000. The joint committee recommends that if a settlement in an amount near that sum can be obtained it be made on that basis. On motion of Mr. Herrick this recommendation was referred to the Executive Committee with power to act.

BUSINESS PRESENTED BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY

The Board considered the following reports and recommendations from the President of the University.

SETTLEMENT OF LITIGATION INVOLVING VALIDITY OF BENJAMIN F. H U N T E R WILL (1) At the April 19, 1951, meeting of the Board the provisions of the will of Benjamin F . Hunter, deceased, and the litigation then pending in Boone County, Indiana, where he resided at the time of his death, involving its validity, were reported at some length to the Board. Since then the University Legal Counsel and the Attorney General of Illinois have been assisting the Illinois and Indiana attorneys employed by the executors in that litigation, and also in seeking to have the will admitted to probate in Illinois while the Indiana litigation is pending. T h e pleadings in the Indiana proceeding are now settled and it will be ready for trial as soon as the taking of depositions has been completed. An order of the County Court of Piatt County, Illinois, admitting the will to probate in this state, upon production of a certified photostatic copy of the will instead of the original which is impounded by the Indiana court, has been affirmed by the Circuit Court of that county on an appeal taken thereto by the contesting heirs. It is to be anticipated that the heirs will either appeal to the Supreme Court of Illinois from this order or will institute a suit to contest the will in the Piatt County Circuit Court, and that they will make every effort to secure a trial and determination of the issues going to the validity of the will in the Indiana court, where the procedure and the law are more favorable to them than they are in Illinois, before a trial can be had on those issues in this state. While the attorneys for the executors and the Legal Counsel believe that a trial of these issues on the merits should result in establishing the validity of the will, especially if it can be had in Illinois before it is had in Indiana, continuance of this litigation will be quite expensive and it is possible that it might result in a decree invalidating the will. As the result of recent settlement negotiations, counsel for the contesting heirs have authority from their clients to accept a settlement contemplating payment of less than 10 per cent of the estimated value of the estate to them. Settlement upon the proposed basis is strongly recommended by both Indiana and Illinois counsel for the executors and the Attorney General of Illinois is willing to approve the