A sports psychologist who has a contract with a university to provide services to student athletes has standing to sue the university for retaliation under the anti-discrimination provisions of Title IX when the university has stopped referring students to her after she reported incidents of abuse.  A federal District Court in Illinois has ruled that she is within the “zone-of-interests” to be protected by the statute.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibiting workplace discrimination specifically exempts a “bona fide membership club” that is federally tax-exempt under section 501(c). 

A federal District Court in Pennsylvania has recently decided that the Centre Hills Country Club in State College PA meets the definition and is exempt from the rules.  It has dismissed on summary judgment a claim brought by a female former employee.

A California nonprofit corporation whose corporate powers and privileges have been suspended lacks standing to contest an Internal Revenue Service determination to revoke its 501(c)(3) charitable tax-exemption.  The U.S. Tax Court has dismissed a declaratory judgment action by a private foundation seeking to overturn the retroactive loss of exempt status.

A nonprofit cooperative that operates the world’s largest fully-refrigerated wholesale produce market in the world has been rebuffed in trying to recover from its bank for embezzlement by its CEO of nearly $5.5 million in checks written on the coop’s account.  A federal District Court has issued summary judgment against the coop on all but a small claim for negligence in the final year of the embezzlement scheme.

The IRS has issued a Memorandum from the Office of Chief Counsel that makes it more difficult for a donor to claim a charitable contribution deduction for a gift of cryptocurrency claimed to be worth more than $5000.  The Memo says a donor must obtain a full qualified appraisal from a qualified appraiser for the valuation and cannot rely on the exception to the appraisal requirement for publicly traded stock.