Tort Liability of Charitable Corporations

The protective and friendly attitude with which the courts and legislatures have viewed charities is reflected in the rule of nonliability for torts committed by such eleemosynary institutions. The rationales for this exemption may be briefly classified into five main groups. The first and most all inclusive, is the trust fund doctrine based on an early English case and exemplified by the Massachusetts decisions. Under this theory a charitable institution can not be held liable for the negligence of servants and employees or administrative officials.Nor is the court concerned with the status of the plaintiff as beneficiary, employee or stranger.

The trust fund can not be diverted from the charitable purposes for which it was intended to compensate for one injured in the execution of these duties.