Tom Benson’s Health Brought Into Question By Lawsuit
Tom Benson (87) has been the owner of the New Orleans Saints since 1985, and recently purchased the New Orleans Pelicans in 2012. This week in a very surprising move Mr. Benson transferred the proverbial keys to the empire from his granddaughter, Rita Benson LeBlanc, to his wife, Gayle Benson.
The news broke yesterday that Mr. Benson was changing the direction of where the two national franchises would go. It wasn’t long after the announcement came that Ms. LeBlanc’s name was removed from the New Orleans Saints official website.
In response, today attorneys for Ms. LeBlanc and her family filed a lawsuit in Orleans Parish Civil District Court and the case was given to Judge Kern Reese. In the filed suit, the LeBlanc family argues that Mr. Benson should be evaluated by a neutral and independent physician who specializes in evaluating the mental capacity of senior adults.
The LeBlanc family is also seeking an order that would place Ms. Renee (the mother of Rita LeBlanc) as her father’s appointed guardian. This would transfer control of business decisions to Ms. Renee instead of them sitting with Mrs. Gayle Benson.
A rift had formed inside the family in December, and they have yet to come to any form of reconciliation. In an exhibit presented to the court, Mr. Benson wrote a letter on December 27 to his relatives stating they had become offensive and did not act in an appropriate manner. To what incident this refers to, we at the Believer to not know at this time.
After this letter was sent to the family, Mr. Benson banned them from attending Saints and Pelicans games and also removed their access to team facilities and offices. The family also had all company property seized.
This is a very delicate matter and we will provide any and all information to you when we can. While Mr. Benson’s current health situation is currently unknown, it is alleged by the family of Ms. Leblanc that his condition has worsened recently.
Mr. Benson is a revered and loved member of the New Orleans community and in San Antonio, Texas. Recently in 2010, Mr. Benson donated $8 million dollars to Loyola University and in 2012 a donation of $7.5 million was made by Mr. Benson and his wife to Tulane University.
We’d like to remind everyone that during this difficult time for the family to keep them in your thoughts as we all hope and pray for an amicable solution to be reached. Stay tuned for more updates as they come in.