Lead Stories

A federal District Court in Utah has ruled that an association lacks standing to claim that Utah’s statute requiring fundraising counsel to register with the state if their clients solicit charitable contributions in Utah is unconstitutional “as applied.”  The Court has left standing a prior ruling in the case that a fundraising counsel threatened with penalties if it didn’t register has standing to contest the requirement.  (American Charities for Reasonable Fundraising Regulation v.

The Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General has reached a new agreement with the trustees of the Hershey Trust Company and Hershey School only three years after an agreement made in 2013. 

The Court of Appeals of Minnesota has reversed a trial court decision and permitted participants in pension plans of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to proceed with a suit against the plan board for breach of fiduciary duty. 

A citizen domiciled in Haiti cannot sue a defendant domiciled in Maine and claim federal court jurisdiction based on diversity of citizenship because of an “arcane” exception to the general rule allowing a citizen of one state to sue a citizen of another state in federal court.  But it was enough to cause a federal District Court in Maine to throw out two defamation verdicts totaling  $14.5 million when the defendant raised the issue after losing a “long, arduous” trial.  (

The Supreme Court of North Dakota has refused to create an exception to the general rule that an unincorporated association may not hold title to real estate under state law.  It has denied a request by a nonprofit association to make an exception to recognize a deed the association claimed it received from the former owner.  (The Next Step v. Redmon, Supreme Ct., ND, No. 20150333, 5/26/16.)

The First Amendment prohibits courts from taking jurisdiction of church disputes involving ecclesiastical issues, but permits them to exercise jurisdiction where the questions can be resolved under neutral principles of law.  The Supreme Court of Alabama has recently been asked to apply these concepts in a dispute involving a church in Clarke County.