After a Missouri charity hired a for-profit company to run its car donation program, the Better Business Bureau in Greater St. Louis issued a warning to consumers, urging them to exercise “caution” when dealing with the organization because the for-profit fundraising company had been “criticized for alleged improprieties in running similar programs.”

The charity sued the BBB for tortious interference with business expectancy and injurious falsehood.  A federal District Court has dismissed the case.

The volunteer president of a fraternity house corporation is protected by the federal Volunteer Protection Act from a claim of defamation, a state appellate court in Indiana has held.  It has affirmed a decision of a trial court dismissing the claim against the officer who was trying to mediate a dispute between two student members at Valparaiso University.

The daughter of the sole shareholder of a nonprofit church corporation who inherits shares in the corporation from her father’s estate does not have a sufficient interest to create standing to sue her brother for embezzlement from the church, a federal District Court in Kansas has ruled.

Heather Bivens, the Associate Senior Vice President for Quality Assurance of a nonprofit provider of services to persons with disabilities, was let go when her male supervisor was told to cut $100,000 out of the department’s budget.  She was let go instead of a much younger man who had only a few years of work experience and was allegedly “over his head” in the job.  A federal District Court in New York has allowed her to challenge her termination on the basis of gender discrimination.

California’s requirement to submit an unredacted list of major donors as part of its charitable solicitation registration materials does not violate the First Amendment, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.  The Court has affirmed the denial of a preliminary injunction sought by a charity that wanted to remove the names of donors shown on Schedule B to the Form 990 that is a required part of the registration package.  (Center for Competitive Politics v.

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has stricken a limitation imposed by the government in the process of applying for a “special immigrant religious worker” visa.  It has overturned the requirement that the worker must have been involved in at least two years of work either abroad or “in lawful immigration status” in the United States immediately prior to applying for the visa.

An appellate court in Florida has found that an agreement by an affordable housing developer to make payments in lieu of taxes is unconstitutional and unenforceable.  Because of the importance of the issue and the possibility that the ruling might pose a significant hardship on municipalities that rely on PILOTS to fund their budgets, the Court has certified the question to the state Supreme Court.  (AHF-Bay Fund, v. City of Largo, Ct. of App., Second Dist., FL, No. 2D14-408, 4/22/15.)