Neighbors were completely surprised to learn that when modest-living Hector Guy Di Stefano and his wife [a href="http://www.memorialobituaries.com/memorials/memorials.cgi?action=Obit&memid=151717&clientid=flint"]Doris[/a] died, they left a $264 million estate to be divided equally among 8 charities, among them them the [a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvation_Army"]Salvation Army[/a] and [a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenpeace"]Greenpeace[/a].
[/p] But there was a snag: the couple left the money to Greenpeace International Inc., but before they died, Greenpeace International Inc. was dissolved and absorbed into a larger outfit, Greenpeace Fund. All of the charities had no problem with this technicality (after all, they weren't expecting any money - the Di Stefanos didn't tell them beforehand). All, except for one: the Salvation Army.[/p] Apparently, $33 million wasn't enough for the Salvation Army - it sued to prevent Greenpeace from its share of the bequest, arguing that the entity the Di Stefanos had left money to no longer existed and that the money should instead be divided equally amongst the remaining 7 charities! The rest of the charities stood to gain an extra $6 million, but no one wanted to come near the Salvation Army's lawsuit.[/p] This May the Salvation Army and Greenpeace settled their lawsuit: it seems like the Salvation Army will get the $6 million extra share of Greenpeace's slice of money, while Greenpeace will still get about $27 million.[/p] Links: [a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003697026_webgreenpeace07m.html"]Seattle Times[/a] | [a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-charityfight14may14,1,766142.story?coll=la-news-a_section"]LA Times[/a]
