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

A bankruptcy trustee for a charitable organization has failed in her attempt to recover damages from three directors for breach of fiduciary duty.  Although a federal District Court denied several defenses by the directors, it ultimately concluded that the trustee had not pled facts sufficient to justify a claim.

A federal District Court in California has permanently enjoined the Attorney General of California from requiring a charitable organization to file a copy of its Form 990 Schedule B disclosure of significant donors with its charitable solicitation registration application for the state.  It is the latest and sharpest decision in a series of efforts to reduce the use of Schedule B to provide information to regulators about the donors to charitable organizations.  (Americans for Prosperity Foundation