Robertson lawsuit most expensive in U. history
The Robertson Foundation lawsuit has cost the University and the Robertson family more than $7 million in total, making the case the most expensive in the University's history.University General Counsel Peter McDonough said in an interview that the University has spent "an excess of $2 million" on the 27-month-old case.The Robertsons have spent over $5 million, according to a review of the tax forms of the Banbury Fund, the Robertson family's $41 million private foundation that has footed the plaintiff's bill, and interviews with William Robertson '72, the chief plaintiff and president of the Fund.Since the plaintiffs ? Robertson, his sisters Katherine Ernst and Anne Meier and cousin Robert Halligan ? sued in July 2002 for control of the Wilson School's $600 million endowment, both sides have devoted an increasing number of hours and lawyers to the case."Given the amount at stake, the number of depositions and number of lawyers involved, the costs of the case don't surprise me," said Tom Cunniff '89, an attorney at the local firm Fox Rothschild.Prior to the suit, McDonough said the most the University spent on a single case was roughly half a million dollars on the 1990 negligence suit of B.J.