Lead Stories

When a participant in a cross-country bicycle tour was hit by a car and killed during the ride, his estate sued both the driver of the car and the nonprofit tour association that organized and sponsored the tour for negligence.  The association argued that the case should be dismissed against it because the plaintiff had not provided expert testimony that it had violated the professional standard of care for tour organizers.  A federal District Court in Washington has disagreed.

An attorney who represented an Oklahoma Girl Scout Council in employment matters has been ordered to transfer all of her client files to the surviving Council after the merger of her client and another Council.  The Supreme Court of Oklahoma has held that the files belong to the surviving entity by virtue of the merger agreement and state law. (Girl-Scouts—Western Oklahoma v. Barringer-Thompson, No. 108676, 3/29/11.)

A member of the board of directors of a nonprofit condominium association who also managed the association has been found liable for breach of duty to the association and ordered to pay damages and the association’s attorney fees.  An appellate court has affirmed a trial court decision it said was supported by competent, credible evidence.  (Mauger v. Inner Circle Condominium Owners Association, Ct. of App., OH, No. 10CA0046, 3/31/11.)

The founder of a 501(c)(3) literacy program has been denied a charitable contribution deduction for real estate she claimed she gave the organization when the deed was never recorded and the original was lost.

Here we feature questions from our recent webinar on charitable solicitation registration.  You can hear the entire program by purchasing access in our Bookstore.  These responses are based on the assumption that the organization involved is not excluded or exempted from the registration requirement.  Any organization soliciting charitable contributions should check the state law of any state in which it is soliciting charitable contributions to see if it is required to comply with registration requirements.  Such laws

A form release included on a one-page “Visit Pass” signed by all guests at a nonprofit church retreat and conference center is sufficient to preclude a guest from suing the center and one of its concessionaires for injuries sustained on the premises, an appellate court in California has held.  (Rothman v. Heart Consciousness Church, Ct. of App., First Dist., Div. One, No. A128138, 3/16/11.)