An appellate court in New York has affirmed a Surrogate Court decision that a donor making a charitable bequest from her living trust intended to benefit a specific Catholic school that had been closed for several years and did not show a general charitable intent which would justify invoking the cy pres doctrine to divert the gift to the Catholic Diocese.  The Court, by a vote of 4-1, has affirmed a Surrogate Court decision dividing the gift between two other residuary beneficiaries of the trust.

The failure to list the cost basis of a remainder interest in real estate on the Form 8283 claiming a charitable contribution deduction has caused the Tax Court to disallow entirely a claimed deduction of more than $33 million.  The Court has strictly interpreted the substantiation requirements without directly having to challenge the valuation.

An executive director’s failure to disclose his Parkinson’s disease to his board of directors before the final phase of his termination process has lost a claim for wrongful termination on the basis of disability.  A federal District Court in Ohio has dismissed the case on summary judgment.

James M. Montgomery convinced an employee of a bank he was about to open to invest $100,000 in the business, saying he needed the additional money to meet regulators’ capitalization requirements to start operating.  Shortly after the employee made the investment in 2008 and before the bank opened for business, Montgomery directed the bank to transfer $100,000 to his family foundation.  The bank failed in less than a year and all of the initial investors, including the employee, lost their investments.

A federal District Court in Louisiana has ruled that a six-person group home for individuals recovering from drug or alcohol addiction is entitled to a reasonable accommodation under the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act and should not be required to install automatic sprinklers and fire alarm systems required by the State Fire Marshal for rooming houses. 

A candidate for director of the nonprofit Cairn Terrier Club of America could not overturn the club’s election results when she did not specifically claim that the club’s failure to follow its bylaw procedures cost her votes.  The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania has affirmed a trial court decision dismissing her case.