A “planning committee” advising the Kent State University Foundation on the use of funds for a symposium lacks standing to challenge the Foundation’s decision to suspend the symposium, an appellate court in Ohio has ruled.  It has affirmed a trial court decision that the committee was not a third-party beneficiary of the original gift agreement and had no standing to enforce the terms of the agreement.

A volunteer coach of a high school football team has been dismissed from a wrongful death suit brought by the parents of a high school football player who was allowed to return to play after suffering a concussion.  An appellate court in Washington has affirmed a trial court decision dismissing the coach under the state’s volunteer immunity law but permitting the case to proceed against the school.

The heirs of donors who gave land to the City of Fayetteville, Arkansas, have no reversionary interest in the property when the donors effectively released and extinguished the reverter by a subsequent deed to the city, the Court of Appeals of Arkansas has ruled.

A divided Supreme Court of Ohio has held that real estate used by a religious organization to broadcast Christian music and weekly religious services is entitled to real estate tax exemption as “property used for church purposes.”  Two dissenting justices, including the Chief Justice, dissented on the grounds that the majority had gone too far in its ruling.

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.