The Hershey power play

• Published in: Trusts & Estates 2002-11, Vol.141 (11), p.8
• Main Author: Gadsden, Christopher H
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Attorneys general; Charitable trusts; Chief executive officers; Court hearings & proceedings; Deeds; Directors; Fiduciaries; Fiduciary responsibility; Food; Injunctions; Investment bankers; Investments; Litigation; Petitions; Public interest; Reconciliation; State court decisions; Students; Trust companies; Trustees
• ISSN: 0041-3682

The Hershey School Trust recently tried to sell a controlling interest in Hershey Foods, the largest chocolate maker in the US. The initiative ignited very vocal public protest and rapid-fire state court litigation that attracted a huge amount of national publicity. That furor finally died down in September when the trustee backed down by deciding against the sale. But still unresolved is the case's troubling impact on charitable trusts and fiduciary duties. The Hershey imbroglio - and the proposed state legislation it seems to have inspired - may broaden the state attorney general's scope of review of charitable trusts, burden trustees of charitable trusts with significant duties, and cause donors to doubt whether their charitable purposes will be served. Michael Fisher, attorney general for Pennsylvania took the position that the state attorney general's traditional parens patriae role for charitable interests authorized him to review not only whether the sale would protect the interests of the intended beneficiaries of the school trust, but also whether it would adversely impact the interests of the public at large.