Judge Chides Nixon Sisters

A judge in Miami said Thursday that the daughters of the late President Nixon have a duty to settle a legal dispute over how $20 million donated to his presidential library in Yorba Linda is spent.

Charles “Bebe” Rebozo, Nixon’s longtime friend, left the money to the library foundation when he died in 1998. But Rebozo set up a committee made up of the two sisters--Tricia Nixon Cox and Julie Nixon Eisenhower--and another longtime Nixon associate to determine how the bequest would be used. Since then, the sisters have been at odds over how the money should be spent. In January, the foundation filed lawsuits in Florida and California in an attempt to gain control of the $20 million.

Any court decisions on the Florida suit would be binding only if Cox and Eisenhower participate in the lawsuit, probate Judge Maria Korvick said Thursday.

--Associated Press