A divided Pennsylvania Supreme Court has held that a Stormwater Runoff Charge imposed by the Borough of West Chester against West Chester University is a local governmental tax from which the University is exempt and not a service fee applicable specifically to users of the service.
A federal District Court has dismissed most counts of a suit brought by ousted Penn State University Trustee Barry J. Fenchak against the University in their long-running dispute over Fenchak’s rights and duties as a member of the Board of Trustees. The Court has dismissed claims of defamation, breach of fiduciary duty, and violation of the Pennsylvania Constitution. It has refused to dismiss at this point, however, a claim for violation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The case filed by the National Religious Broadcasters and two churches to invalidate the prohibition against charities’ participation in elections has been dismissed by a Federal District Court in Texas. The case has been dismissed even though the plaintiffs and the Internal Revenue Service had agreed to a consent decree under which the IRS would not enforce the statute against the two churches.
The Court said it had no jurisdiction to decide the case under the Tax Anti-Injunction Act and the Declaratory Judgment Act.
A trial court has authority to name a specific hospital as the beneficiary of charitable funds even though the trustee holding such funds recommends a hospital foundation and a community organization to benefit when the originally designated hospital went out of existence.
The chair of the board and founder of a nonprofit camp for kids with cancer has been found liable for breach of fiduciary duty when she failed to disclose the appraised value of camp buildings sold in a package with real estate owned by the founder and her husband. The Supreme Court of Idaho has affirmed a trial court finding that the founder acted in bad faith in failing to disclose the appraisal and reducing the payment to the camp.
A charitable limited liability company providing subsidized housing and supportive services for residents re-entering the community is eligible for real estate tax exemption in Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth Court has held, even though the supportive services are provided through a contract with its sole member parent organization and not by the LLC itself. The Court found for the LLC despite a recent ruling by the state Supreme Court that the activities of a sole member parent and an LLC must be treated separately in determining questions of state tax exemption.
