Lead Stories

When the former executive vice president of the Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation sued the Foundation for its refusal to honor a deferred compensation agreement, the Foundation cross-claimed against the exec’s husband and his law firm which had been counsel to the Foundation at the time of the transaction.  A trial court in Connecticut has refused to grant summary judgment to the law firm to dismiss it from the case.  (Levin v. Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation, Superior Ct., CT, Hartford, No. CV 106008853S, 8/31/11.)

Can you follow the bouncing ball?  After more than seven years of litigation, an appellate court in Pennsylvania has decided who should receive the benefit of a trust left for a Philadelphia hospital that has gone through several reorganizations, bankruptcy, sale to a for-profit company, and dissolution since the donor’s death in 1919.  The Court has affirmed award of the income to one of the successor organizations created out of the bankruptcy of the Allegheny Health, Education and Research Foundation (“AHERF”) in 1998.  (Estate of Elkins, Pa. Superior Ct., No. 2147 EDA 2009, 9/1/11.)

A federal District Court in Ohio has dismissed a suit by the Mayor and City of Cleveland seeking to force the Cleveland Clinic Foundation to maintain its service and Level II trauma center at Huron Hospital in East Cleveland.  The Court has held that the City did not state a claim under Title VI of the federal Civil Right Act, did not have standing to claim a breach of charitable trust, and was not a party to tax-exempt bond financing documents that could claim a breach of contract.  (

We regularly feature answers to questions from readers in our “Your Legal Questions Answered” column. The full list can be viewed on the site. 

Must board report embezzlement?

A mortgage broker who helped a church procure three mortgage loans that were signed by a co-pastor but never authorized by the pastor or the board has been found not liable to the church for funds apparently diverted by the co-pastor for other uses. A bankruptcy court in California has held that even though the broker breached a duty to the church, its conduct was not a “substantial factor” in the harm. (In re: Church of God in Christ #2 v. BDM Mortgage Services, Bankruptcy Ct., N.D. CA, Bankruptcy No. 08-30750, 10/20/11.)

The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania has been permitted to sue Fifth Third Bank in Ohio for failing to have a customer complete a change of designation form on his “payable on death” accounts even where the Society’s lawyer had filed an entry of appearance in a probate court case determining the rightful owner of the funds. The Court of Appeals of Ohio has said the Society was not precluded from litigating the issue because it was not decided in the earlier case.  (Fifth Third Bank v. Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society of Pennsylvania, Ct. of App., OH, No. 96403, 10/6/11.)