The California Supreme Court has ruled that the domestic partner of late philanthropist Conrad Prebys can carry on with a whistleblower lawsuit that accuses his charitable foundation of misdirecting millions of dollars to his estranged son.
The ruling has broader implications for charities across California, setting a precedent that judges cannot dismiss a whistleblower’s lawsuit just because the individual loses his or her seat on a charity’s board of directors, as was the case with Debra Turner. She served on the board of directors of The Conrad Prebys Foundation when she filed the lawsuit, but then her seat expired — a development the lower court had previously ruled was a fatal flaw to continuing her legal claim.
The Supreme Court’s unanimous 7-0 ruling, authored by Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, stems from a complicated San Diego Superior Court case involving family and inheritance.
Two years before Prebys died at 82 of cancer in 2016, he cut his son and only child out of his will.
Hoping to avoid a lengthy, costly and public court battle, four of the five directors of The Conrad Prebys Foundation, which Prebys had established to continue his charitable giving, voted for a settlement with the son. The agreement paid $15 million to Eric Prebys, who had once been in line for $40 million from his father.
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