Lead Stories

A federal District Court in Minnesota has affirmed a Bankruptcy Court decision refusing to join more than 180 separate Catholic affiliates in the bankruptcy proceeding of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.  The Court has ruled that the action would violate the Bankruptcy Code’s prohibition against involuntary bankruptcies against a corporation that is not “a moneyed, business or commercial corporation.”

An appellate court in California has reversed a trial court decision denying recovery of goodwill lost by a performing arts nonprofit following condemnation of its building for a highway project.  The Court has said that once a loss of goodwill has been shown, its quantification may be measured by a variety of methods.

A second charity dealing with controversial issues has won a permanent injunction against enforcement of California’s demand that an unredacted Schedule B has to be filed with the state in order to register for charitable solicitation in the state.  The Thomas More Law Center has won the injunction against Secretary of State Kamala Harris on the ground that enforcement of the demand for the list of major contributors would violate the center’s Constitutional rights.

A bank holding a judgment against the income beneficiary of a charitable remainder unitrust may attach and collect the income from the beneficiary despite a “spendthrift” provision in the trust preventing a creditor from attaching the income, an appellate court in Arizona has held.  Interpreting the Washington state law that all parties agreed was applicable to the trust, it has held that state law specifically provides that a spendthrift provision does not apply to a trust created by the beneficiary.

How extensive is the authority of the board of directors of a nonprofit corporation to act? 

The director of a nonprofit corporation seeking a judicial dissolution of the corporation has standing to continue the case even after being removed from the board after filing the complaint, according to the Court of Appeals of Arizona.  It has reversed a trial court decision dismissing the case on summary judgment and ordering the plaintiff to pay attorneys fees to the organization.  (Workman v. Verde Wellness Center, Ct. of App., AZ, No.