An attorney who failed to have a client sign an amendment to his living trust while getting him to sign amendments to his will and other documents may be liable for legal malpractice to family members the client wanted to favor over a number of charities, the Pennsylvania Superior Court has held.  The Court has reversed a trial court dismissal of the claims and allowed the family members to pursue a malpractice claim against the lawyer and his firm.  (E

In the latest development in a long-running bankruptcy case involving a failed nursing home in Pittsburgh, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a jury verdict of joint and several liability of $2.25 million in compensatory damages for breach of fiduciary duty against 15 officers and directors of the home but has reversed the award of $350,000 each in punitive damages against five directors.  It has refused to reverse, however, a punitive damage judgment of $1 million against the CEO and $750,000 against the CFO.

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court has held in an unreported opinion that former members of a Blue Cross organization have no standing to sue the corporation over the amount of reserves it had accumulated.  

The board of trustees of a separately incorporated religious congregation does not have the right under the New York Religious Corporations Law to hire or fire a rabbi without involving the membership in the decision, an appellate court in New York has ruled.  It has reversed a trial court decision dismissing a claim by members of the congregation and its rabbi that the board could not let the rabbi’s contract lapse without holding a vote of the members.