In suit over legal fees, attorneys ask to invalidate agreement between Cantrell and Edward Wisner

In suit over legal fees, attorneys ask to invalidate agreement between Cantrell and Edward Wisner trust


A group of Louisiana law firms filed a lawsuit last week against the Edward Wisner Donation, a lucrative land trust controlled in part by the city of New Orleans. The suit primarily seeks to resolve a longstanding dispute over legal fees, but the firms are also asking a judge to undo a potentially costly agreement inked last year between New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell and other Wisner Donation beneficiaries.

As The Lens previously reported, Cantrell agreed last year to continue the century-old trust — which was meant to terminate and transfer to full city control seven years ago — in perpetuity. Had the trust terminated, the city could have taken sole ownership of about 50,000 acres of land, along with millions of dollars in lease payments that land generates every year.

But under the 2020 deal, the city will continue to split control of the land and the lease revenue with several other beneficiaries, including a group of heirs to the trust’s namesake: philanthropist Edward Wisner, who donated the land and established the trust in 1914.

The Cantrell administration did not explain why it agreed to the deal when approached by The Lens late last year, and there are questions about its legality. A spokesman for Mayor LaToya Cantrell declined to comment for this story.

Read more: https://thelensnola.org/2021/04/28/in-suit-over-legal-fees-attorneys-ask-to-invalidate-agreement-between-cantrell-and-edward-wisner-trust/