By Jahir Olvera
Regena Cole, a Long Beach State philanthropist, is suing The CSU Board of Trustees and the California State University Long Beach 49er Foundation in a lawsuit that is currently in pre-trial.
Regena Cole, widow of whom the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music on campus is named after, filed a lawsuit against CSULB in November 2022 for financial elder abuse, fraud and negligent misrepresentation.
Cole originally sought $500,000 in damages, but recent court filings indicate she is instead suing for $25,000, plus emotional damages.
Following Bob Cole’s death in 2008, Regena signed a gift agreement of $16.4 million to CSULB’s music department. This donation led to the music department being renamed the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music, the biggest donation in the history of the campus.
Cole’s party alleges that the CSULB 49er Foundation had knowingly coerced and deceived her into signing an additional agreement on Aug. 19, 2020 that would have her contributing $25 million to the university.
According to the court documents, “Mrs. Cole is informed and believes and thereupon alleges that she has been victimized in a carefully drawn-out scheme perpetrated by the Foundation who isolated, deceived, coerced, and/or manipulated her over the course of several months…”
In early 2020, Cole expressed interest in donating to the Foundation again. She discussed the possibility with her legal counsel and the information discussed was “conceptualizing and deliberating the amount and terms of the donation,” according to court documents.
Cole, who is 95 years old, alleges that over the past decade she “has gradually suffered from memory lapses and moments of confusion which requires her to rely on additional support from family, friends and legal advisors.”
According to court documents, the Foundation and by extension, its Chief Executive Officer Michele Cesca, were aware of these age-related issues. Cole’s party is alleging Cesca and the Foundation took advantage of Cole’s mental state and coerced her into signing the agreement without consulting Cole’s legal counsel beforehand.
According to the lawsuit, “The Foundation, by and through Cesca, used this information and their pre-existing relationship with Mrs. Cole to improperly obtain the confidential attorney-client communication discussing a possible donation.”
The Foundation allegedly saw an opportunity to deceive and manipulate Regena Cole into “signing away her life’s fortune in a ‘gift agreement,’” according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit also details where the funds, a total of $25 million, would end up.
One of the proposed projects that would result from this donation is the Robert Bersi University Music Village, which would be constructed to house the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music and would include an entirely new building.
The agreement would require Cole to donate $25 million within 13 months of the signing of the agreement. The terms of the agreement also mentioned that if the gift was not fulfilled within Cole’s lifetime, any unpaid portion would be fulfilled by her estate and be considered a ‘gift of the estate.’
According to the lawsuit, Cole claims she does not have $25 million to donate. However, in a recent hearing Hayward Kaiser, one of the lawyers representing the CSU Board of Trustees and the CSULB 49er Foundation, said Cole has an estimated $60 million in assets through properties owned.
The Foundation and the Board of Trustees’ defense was a general denial of every allegation Cole had raised against them. Citing a lack of sufficient facts and evidence in Cole’s claims against the Foundation.
“The theme of their case is, little old lady, big bad university corners her in a room that makes her do something against her will,” Andrew Spitser, one of the lawyers representing the defense, said in a recent pre-trial hearing to the judge. “The reality is a decade-long relationship in which really, her baby has been the music school at Cal State Long Beach.”
Spitser explained to the judge how the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music has grown and developed since it was established in 2008.
The lawsuit is expected to have a jury trial in the upcoming weeks.
