ATTORNEY GENERAL: SOLICITOR GENERAL:

When Archibald G. Bush died on January 16, 1966, he left the bulk of his estate to the Bush Foundation, a non-profit charitable corporation incorporated on February 24, 1953. He names Herschel S. Arrowood and Mary Jane Dickman as executors. A power struggle soon developed over control both of administration of the estate and of the Bush Foundation itself. This resulted in extensive litigation, in some of which the attorney general's office participated as co-litigant or as amicus curiae. The litigation is briefly summarized as follows:

(1) Edyth Bush, et al. vs. Herschel S. Arrowood, et al., 1968-1969. A faction of the Bush Foundation board of directors, headed by Archibald Bush's widow, filed a complaint against the other directors and the attorney general. The law firm of Faegre and Benson was retained as special counsel for the state.

(2) Archibald Bush Estate, 1971-1975. The attorney general's office protested the amount awarded to the executors of the estate and their lawyers.

(3) Edyth Bush, et al. vs. Arrowood, et al., 1971-1976. Bush's widow sought to renounce the will and to recover half of the estate. After her death in November, 1972, her executors, headed by H. Clifford Lee, carried on the suit with an appeal to district court.

(4) Edyth Bush Estate. There was a question as to which state, Minnesota or Florida, would have jurisdiction over Mrs. Bush's estate, since she died at her residence in Florida.

(5) H. Clifford Lee, et al. vs. Elmer L. Andersen, et al., 1972-1976. Two directors of the Bush Foundation, H. Clifford Lee and E. G. Banks, filed a complaint against ten of the remaining directors, including Elmer L. Anderson, over alleged improprieties in the sale of 800,000 shares of 3M stock by the Bush Foundation. The defendants counter-claimed against the plaintiffs, seeking their removal as directors of the foundation. The attorney general appeared as amicus curiae.

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The attorney general's litigation files comprise an extensive collection of pleadings, motions, findings, depositions, exhibits, transcripts, and research documents. They are concerned with complaints filed against each other by family members and factions of the foundation's board of directors; protestations against awards to the estate executors; attempts by Bush's widow, Edyth Bush, to renounce his will and recover half of the estate; conflicts over jurisdiction of her estate following her 1972 death; and a claim of alleged improprieties in the sale of 3M stock by the Bush Foundation.

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These records are organized into the following sections:

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Box 13 contains an "investigation summary," prepared by the attorney general's staff as amicus curiae in Lee vs. Andersen, that summarizes the history of all litigation up to 1976. In addition, the "Memoranda" files for all cases contain useful summaries of the litigation.

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited case and the volume and page or item and folder title here]. Minnesota Attorney General. Litigation files regarding the Bush Foundation. Minnesota Historical Society. State Archives.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number(s): 988-165

Processing Information:

Processed by: Scott Jessee, March 1988

Catalog ID No.: 990017134200104294

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10472C, Orange County, Florida; 10473C, Ramsey County, Minnesota.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Charitable uses, trusts, and foundations -- Minnesota.

Charity law and legislation -- Minnesota.

Charity organization.

Claims against decedents' estates -- Minnesota.

Executors and administrators -- Minnesota.

Inheritance and succession -- Minnesota.

Litigating.

Stock transfer -- Law and legislation -- Minnesota.

Persons:

Arrowood, Herschel S.

Bush, A. G. (Archibald Granville), 1887-1966.

Bush, Edyth, -1972.

Dickman, Mary Jane.

Organizations:

Bush Foundation.

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