BY BILL FREEHLING

Evidence is still being gathered in a $6.35 million lawsuit the University of Mary Washington Foundation filed late last year against the estate of Arabelle Arrington in an effort to collect on a pledge by the late alumna.

Arrington, a Fauquier County resident who graduated from Mary Washington College in 1941, pledged the $6.35 million to the UMW Foundation between 2000 and 2005, according to a breach of contract lawsuit the foundation filed in Fauquier Circuit Court.

Arrington died in November 2010 at the age of 89 before giving the foundation the funds. UMW Foundation officials have said Arrington intended that her unfulfilled pledges would be paid from her estate, but that has not happened. The UMW foundation has spent at least some of the pledged funds already, including on construction at the Jepson Alumni Executive Center.

Arrington and her husband of 57 years, the late Walter Arrington, did not have any children, and for many years owned and operated a Chrysler-Plymouth-Dodge automobile dealership in Warrenton.

According to Gary Nuckols, a Hirschler Fleischer attorney representing the UMW Foundation in the case, a Fauquier Circuit Court judge ruled this past June that Arrington's nephew and estate executor, W. Boyd Laws Jr., is not a party in the case personally, but remains involved because of his duties as executor.

The UMW Foundation's claim--that Arrington's written pledges are a legally enforceable contract--is still being considered by the court.

Bill Freehling: 540/374-5405
Email: bfreehling@freelancestar.com