## Facts

- Dr. Albert C. Barnes created the Barnes Foundation as a Pennsylvania nonprofit corporation and charitable trust, transferring to it a major art collection, buildings, and an arboretum.
- The governing instruments stated the Foundation’s purpose was educational, including the promotion of learning and appreciation of fine arts, and to be maintained perpetually for education in fine arts appreciation.
- The trust indenture contemplated public access, providing that during the lifetimes of Dr. Barnes and his wife the gallery would be open to the public no more than two days per week and only by admission cards issued under trustee direction.
- In prior litigation, the Foundation had been judicially recognized as an institution of public charity and, on that basis, exempt from taxation.
- The Attorney General alleged the Foundation denied the public access to the buildings housing the art collection and failed to operate and maintain an art gallery for exhibition of the works.
- The Attorney General emphasized that the Foundation held an extremely valuable collection of more than a thousand paintings, yet the public was denied access.

## Issues

1. Whether the Pennsylvania Attorney General has authority to inquire into the operations of a public charity and seek judicial enforcement of compliance with its charitable purposes.
2. Whether the Attorney General’s petition stated a sufficient claim such that dismissal on preliminary objections was improper.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania reversed the order sustaining preliminary objections and dismissing the petition.
- The Court held the Attorney General has power to inquire into the status, activities, and functioning of a public charity and to determine whether the charitable purposes for which it was created are being carried out.
- The Court ruled that allegations of denying public access and failing to operate the gallery, taken as true at the pleading stage, warranted judicial inquiry and fact-finding.
- The case was remanded for further proceedings.

## Legal Principles

- The Attorney General, as representative of the public interest, has standing and authority to investigate and litigate to ensure charitable trusts and public charities carry out their charitable purposes.
- Judicial recognition of an entity as a public charity, including enjoyment of tax exemption, supports state oversight to ensure the institution continues to provide the public benefit justifying that status.
- On preliminary objections, well-pleaded allegations are accepted as true; when allegations plausibly indicate deviation from charitable purposes, the matter should proceed to evidentiary development rather than be dismissed.

## Conclusion

The court held that Pennsylvania’s Attorney General may seek judicial enforcement of a public charity’s adherence to its declared charitable purposes and that allegations the Barnes Foundation denied public access and failed to operate its gallery stated a claim requiring judicial inquiry, making dismissal at the pleading stage erroneous.


Commonwealth v. Barnes Found., 159 A.2d 500 (Pa. 1960)