Lead Stories

A director of a nonprofit summer camp has been denied a claim for nearly $1 million in advances made to keep the camp operating before it went into bankruptcy.  A Bankruptcy Court in Pennsylvania has held that almost all of the transfers were donations and not loans, and that they were made without authority from the board.  (In Re: Machne Menachem, Bkrptcy. Ct., M.D. PA, No. 5-01-bk-04926, 3/4/10.)

A homeowners insurance policy does not provide coverage to the owners of a farm used for a nonprofit animal sanctuary and for-profit entertainment business when a sanctuary volunteer is mauled to death by a rescued tiger during a photo shoot for her high school yearbook photo, according to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.  The Court has affirmed a Kansas District Court decision denying coverage to the owners of the farm. 

An appellate Court in California has affirmed a trial court decision ordering a Sikh Temple to disclose directors’ names, addresses and other contact information to a member of the board who sought the information so that he could contact his colleagues about Temple business.  The Court rejected the Temple’s argument that it could not be forced to divulge such “private” information without the consent of the individuals involved.  (Pamma v. Sikh Temple, Gurdwara, Yuba City, Inc., Ct. of App. CA, Third App. Dist., No. C062361, 4/7/10.)

A federal District Court in Wisconsin has dismissed a suit by a local Girl Scout council seeking to prevent the national Girl Scout organization from forcing a realignment of the local council as part of a national reorganization effort. 

What does a charity do when the value of a bequest grows so large that the income substantially exceeds the amount the charity wants to spend for the purpose of the gift? 

If it is Columbia University with an endowed Chair in Clinical Medicine that throws off more income than the University normally applies to an endowed professorship, it asks the surrogate’s court to allow it to divide the fund to permit the creation of additional professorships.  The Surrogate’s Court in Nassau County, NY, has recently approved such an application.

An appellate court in California has affirmed the disqualification of an attorney for a Sikh religious center after he interviewed 11 members on a list of more than 150 members challenging the merger of two centers.  Although the lawyer said the members told him they were not represented by other counsel, the Court held that there was adequate reason for the disqualification.  (Grewal v. Gurunanak Mission Sikh Center, Ct. of App., CA, Fifth Dist., No. F-57688, 4/27/10.)