The First Amendment prohibits courts from taking jurisdiction of church disputes involving ecclesiastical issues, but permits them to exercise jurisdiction where the questions can be resolved under neutral principles of law.  The Supreme Court of Alabama has recently been asked to apply these concepts in a dispute involving a church in Clarke County.

An appellate court in Missouri has affirmed a trial court decision holding that the Missouri Baptist Foundation can’t unilaterally amend its governing documents to eliminate the right of the Executive Board of the Missouri Baptist Convention to approve such changes.  The Court of Appeals has held that changes in the documents without the Convention’s prior review and approval are void.  (The Executive Board of the Missouri Baptist Convention v.

An African-American caseworker for a nonprofit providing services to mentally disabled persons may sue for racial discrimination when placed with a “racist” client in the hope that the client will quit the program.  A federal District Court in Missouri has denied a motion to dismiss the claim, saying the specific causal connection between the supervisor’s alleged statements and the caseworker’s injury are sufficient to give rise to an inference of discrimination.

An oral subordination of existing mortgage liens is not effective under Missouri law and the Tax Court has denied a $16.4 million charitable contribution deduction for a gift of a conservation easement where the subordination was not filed of record for nearly four months after the grant of the easement.

Individual church deacons are not personally liable for the alleged wrongful termination of the pastor, a federal District Court in Pennsylvania has held.  The employment contract was with the church as an organization and not with the deacons individually, the Court said in granting a motion to dismiss the individual defendants.

The Franklin Institute science museum in Philadelphia has been ordered to provide free admission to a required personal care attendant providing assistance to a severely disabled visitor.  A “frankly puzzled” judge of the federal District Court has approved the “manifestly reasonable request” for modification of its admission policy to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

The New Jersey Institute of Technology, a 130-year-old public university emphasizing science and technology, has won the right to disaffiliate from its alumni association and to deny the association the ability to use its name and logos in ways that might mislead the public.  The Appellate Division of the Superior Court has affirmed a trial court decision from 2014 upholding the disaffiliation.  (Alumni Association of New Jersey Institute of Technol