Lead Stories

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court has upheld the determination by the Department of State that a for-profit company that operates a portable amusement park providing rides, games and food for carnivals and pays a percentage of the ride fees to charities and other nonprofits is a “professional solicitor” that must register under the state’s charitable solicitation registration act.  It has upheld a cease and desist order prohibiting the company from running its carnivals within the state without registering as a solicitor.

The Tax Court has upheld an IRS ruling denying a charitable estate tax deduction for the value of the remainder interest of an attempted charitable remainder annuity trust when the stated annuity payment did not meet the statutory requirements for a CRAT.  It has held that the trustees had no unilateral power to amend the instrument and had failed to obtain a necessary court reformation.

Talk about a double whammy.

The Court of Appeals of Minnesota has affirmed a trial court decision removing one of the trustees of the Otto Bremer Trust, a $2 billion private foundation in St. Paul, for “serious breach of trust” under state law.  The Attorney General had petitioned for the removal of all three of the Foundation’s trustees, but the trial court granted the petition only as to one of the group.  The removed trustee appealed and the Court of Appeals has affirmed.

The Supreme Court of Washington has dismissed a group of claims brought by the state for violation of state consumer protection law by a for-profit thrift store operator that advertised its payments to “charity partners” for contributions to the thrift store operation.  The Court has refused to apply the standard for liability usually applicable to “commercial” speech to determine whether a fraud had occurred and found that the claims do not survive the “strict scrutiny” applied to charitable solicitation.

A Pennsylvania appellate court has denied charitable real estate tax exemption for four hospitals in a reginal nonprofit hospital system on the ground that they did not qualify under the state’s definition of “charitable.”  It affirmed three decisions from one county and reversed a decision from another.

The state Commonwealth Court has found that four hospitals in the Tower Health system in suburban Philadelphia did not operate free from private profit motive and did not provide a sufficient amount of below cost care to its patients.