Lead Stories

The Supreme Court of Minnesota has affirmed two lower court decisions holding that a series of incidents involving a breach of trust can cumulatively justify removal of the trustee for “significant” breach of trust, even though some of the breaches alone might not justify removal.  It has affirmed the removal of one of the trustees of the Otto Bremer Trust, a $2 billion private foundation located in St. Paul, under the state’s version of the Uniform Trust Code.

An appellate court in Louisiana has held that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has appropriately followed its own internal rules in suspending a “lifetime” member for five years for conduct “inimical to the best interests” of the Association. The Court upheld the action to suspend the rights of Ernest L. Johnson, a former member of the national board of directors.

An appellate court in New York has affirmed the dismissal of counterclaims by the National Rifle Association seeking to throw out a suit by the state Attorney General for widespread and longstanding executive malfeasance.  It has affirmed the traditional standard of needing only to show “probable cause” to overcome a defendant’s claim of retaliatory litigation.

A nonprofit corporation that manages historical property for the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States cannot force the National Trust to increase the distribution from its endowment to cover costs of the work, a federal District Court in Virginia has held.  The Court has said that the relationship is governed by the management contract and is not covered by the state’s Uniform Trust Code.

An appellate court in Georgia has held that a quorum is not required for election of the directors of a homeowners’ association when the election is conducted by written ballot as permitted by the association’s bylaws and not at a meeting of the members.  It has also held, pursuant to a quirk in homeowners’ association law, that a non-member of the association may not serve as a director, even though the articles of incorporation of the association provide that directors need not be members of the association.

A federal District Court in Brooklyn has dismissed a putative class action claiming “fraud” in a CVS drug store fundraising campaign in which patrons were offered the opportunity to contribute to the American Diabetes Association at the checkout register.  It rejected the plaintiff’s claim that the failure of CVS to tell customers that it would make up the difference if the campaign fell short of its $10 million goal constituted a fraud on the public.