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Who Is Entitled to Bequest Left to Dissolved Church?

N.J. appellate court affirms trial court decision granting fund to nearby local church, not Presbytery
In December, 2010, Ruth Stumm executed her will, leaving one-eighth of the residue of her estate to the First Presbyterian Church of Wood-Ridge, N.J., “or its successor” to establish an endowment in the name of a local resident. In 2015, she was declared mentally incompetent and she died in 2016. The Wood-Ridge church had dissolved in 2014 and transferred all of its assets to the Presbytery of the Palisades, its legal successor. Her executor asked the court for “instructions” on the rightful recipient of the residue. After a three-day trial, the trial judge awarded the residue to the First Presbyterian Church of Moonachie, a nearby church to which many congregants of the Wood-Ridge church...

Who Has Authority to Increase Dues For Girl Scouts of USA?

Court rules that National Council of representatives has exclusive authority, denying authority of National Board
The Supreme Court of Alaska has ruled that only the National Council of the Girl Scouts of the United States, a representative body that meets every three years to elect members of the National Board of Directors, has authority to increase the dues for Girl Scouts across the country, and has held that a $10 increase approved by the National Board in 2016 is improper. The Girl Scouts of the USA is a congressionally chartered nonprofit that charters local Girl Scout Councils responsible for promoting and organizing programs throughout the country. The Farthest North Council is chartered to run the programs in Fairbanks and northern Alaska. The National Council had raised dues nine times...

Court Refuses to Expand Scope Of Attorney-Client Privilege

Washington Court says attorney for hospital may not have confidential talks with physician in ER practice
An appellate court in Washington has refused to follow several federal Circuit Courts of Appeals and refused to permit confidential ex parte communications between an attorney representing a defendant hospital and a physician employed by an outside contractor in the operation of the hospital’s emergency room when the hospital has been sued by a patient. The state Court of Appeals, by a vote of 2-1, has refused to expand the scope of the privilege. A patient was brought to the emergency room after having driven into a power pole in an accident in which his “head penetrated the windshield” of his car. He was treated at Tacoma General Hospital by Dr. David Patterson, an employee of Trauma...

Federal Court Blocks IRS Effort To Suspend Requirement for Schedule B

Says action cannot be taken without following rulemaking provisions of Administrative Procedure Act
A federal District Court in Montana has put at least a temporary hold on the Internal Revenue Service’s effort to suspend the requirement for tax-exempt organizations to file a list of their significant donors on Schedule B to the Form 990 tax information return. The Administration had eliminated the requirement for all exempt organizations except 501(c)(3) public charities by publishing a new Revenue Procedure in 2018. ( Rev. Proc. 2018-38 . See Nonprofit Issues ® , Vol. XXVIII, No. 3 ) The case is the latest development in what seems to have become a partisan battle over disclosure of contributors. The Ninth and Second Circuit Courts of Appeals have held that California and New York may...

Does Potential Beneficiary Have Standing To Contest Administration of Trust?

Australian “branch church” of Christian Science denied standing to contest administration of Mary Baker Eddy’s testamentary trust
The Supreme Court of New Hampshire has denied standing to a “branch church” of Christian Science to contest the administration of an original testamentary trust of Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Church of Christian Science, when it is only a “potential” beneficiary of the trust. It has weighed five specific criteria for determining whether a potential beneficiary has a “special interest” that would justify standing and found the branch church lacking. When Mary Baker Eddy died in 1910, she established two testamentary trusts for the benefit of the church. One was given $100,000 to provide free instruction to “indigent, well educated, worthy Christian Scientists.” A second received the...

Student Claims Dismissed Against College For Fraud, Breach of Duty, Breach of Contract

Court says students failed to show duties owed to them when College abruptly closed for financial reasons
A federal District Court in Massachusetts has dismissed a putative class action brought against Mount Ida College, its Board of Trustees and several officers by students upset by the abrupt closing of the institution. They made various claims of fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, contract and privacy. Mount Ida had apparently been suffering financial difficulties for several years and announced it was in merger talks with Lasell College in February, 2018. In March, it announced that it had broken off merger talks, and in April announced that it had agreed to sell its Newton campus to the University of Massachusetts Amherst. It told the students that all current students would be guaranteed...

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