University Suit Comes to Trial

The trail on a suit brought by the University against a local real estate trust opened yesterday in the Middlesex Superior Court.

The suit seeks to force the University Road Real Estate Trust to honor a 1956 option agreement which gave Harvard the right to buy an apartment building near the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library anytime within a 10-year period.

Judge Edward F. Hennessey is hearing the case. The court denied a defense motion for a jury trial last month.

Witnesses for the University testified yesterday morning that Harvard had attempted to purchase the property last December at a price of $250,000 agreed on in 1956 plus an additional sum for capital improvements on the building. The owners refused to sell.

In his opening statement yesterday afternoon, defense attorney Elliot H. Stone '53, said he would attempt to prove that:

* Representatives of the University misled the defendments by changing the terms of the agreement without notifying the owners.

* Harvard had never paid the owners the "$1 and other valuable considerations" mentioned in the agreement.

* Acquisition of the property at the agreed-upon price would "unjustly enrich" Harvard.

* The University, as a charitable institution, did not have the right to engage in a commercial transaction of this type.

Stone questioned L. Gard Wiggins, Administrative Vice-president of the University, as to his role in the negotiations. Wiggins, who served as comptroller of the University in 1956, was one of the 5 trustees of the real estate trust which gave the option to Harvard.

Wiggins said that he participated in the trust as a private investor. Acting in his capacity as an officer of the University, he deleted one clause from the first draft of the agreement without notifying his fellow trustees.

The deleted clause would have required Harvard to use the property only for educational purposes -- it could not be rented to commercial interests.

Wiggins later resigned as a trustee of the real estate group.

The defense will continue its case today in the questioning of Wiggins. The trial is expected to last through the day, and possibly into tomorrow