Lead Stories

Nearly ten years after an unincorporated association sued another unincorporated association, the Supreme Court of Kentucky has thrown out the case, stating that as a matter of general state law an unincorporated association can neither sue nor be sued in the association’s name.  (United Brotherhood of Carpenters v. Birchwood Conservancy, KY, No. 2011-SC-000659, 6/19/14.)

The great-great-grandson of William H. Seward, who was President Lincoln’s Secretary of State during the Civil War, lacks standing to reopen the estate of Seward’s grandson, William H.

A teenage spectator at a nonprofit youth football league game who was asked to help the officials by holding the first down marker is protected by the federal Volunteer Protection Act and is not liable for injuries of a player who ran into the marker, a trial court in Connecticut has held.  The plaintiff did not prove that the teenager who helped game officials had been guilty of gross negligence.  (Hochman v. Eddy, Superior Ct., CT, Ansonia-Milford, No. CV 136013530, 3/24/14.)

The Old North Church in Boston cannot be held liable for violation of state consumer protection laws in a suit by a visitor who tripped over a step while moving into a pew during a tour of the building.  The issue arose because the court had also found the church immune from liability under the state’s recreational use statute, which permits liability only for “willful, wanton or reckless” conduct when making its facilities available free for recreational use.  (

A California appellate court has refused to extend whistleblower protections that prevent termination of at-will employees who have complained about illegal actions to stop the removal of a volunteer director of a nonprofit foundation.  The Court of Appeals has affirmed a trial court decision upholding the removal of the director upon the vote of a majority of the entire board.  (Donovan v.

The Court of Special Appeals of Maryland has affirmed a trial court decision holding that a conversion foundation, formed following the sale of a charitable nursing home to a for-profit entity, is entitled to receive a terminating distribution from a trust formed for the benefit of the prior institution.  The Court said that the named beneficiary continues to exist, even with a different name, and to carry out charitable activities.  (John B. Parsons Home, LLC, v. John B. Parsons Foundation, Ct. of Special App., MD, No. 109 Sept. Term, 2013, 4/30/14.)