Taxpayers who claimed a $3 million charitable contribution deduction for filing a land preservation easement to restrict development on their property have been denied a charitable contribution deduction and have been ordered to pay a “substantial understatement of income tax” penalty by the Tax Court.

When a bank trustee asked for guidance on how to distribute income from eight testamentary trusts left for the benefit of Bloomsburg Hospital in Pennsylvania, there wasn’t much debate about authorizing continued use of the trust income for the Hospital, even though the Hospital had been absorbed within a large regional healthcare system. 

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.