Brooklyn judge places LICH property in ‘constructive trust,’ says Othmer Fund must be repaid
OKs SUNY’s request for LICH delay
In a two-part decision and order on Wednesday, state Supreme Court Justice Carolyn Demarest approved SUNY Downstate’s request to put off reopening Long Island College Hospital’s (LICH) Intensive Care Unit and restoring full operation of the Emergency Department and ambulance service until September 3.
While Justice Demarest had originally ordered that SUNY Downstate must work to restore the above services by Aug. 26, both SUNY and the Concerned Physicians of LICH agreed that more time was needed to hire additional doctors. (More on this story here.)
In the second part of her order, Justice Demarest made it clear that funds previously “borrowed” in 2000, 2006 and 2011 from the Othmer Endowment Fund at LICH must be restored by LICH and SUNY. She imposed “a constructive trust for the benefit of the Othmer Endowment Fund” on all of LICH’s real property currently in control of SUNY Downstate.
According to Cornell University’s Legal Information Institute, a constructive trust orders the person who would otherwise be unjustly enriched to transfer property to the rightful owner. Unlike other common trusts, a constructive trust is a temporary measure ordered by a court to correct a wrong.