How many chances should a court give a nonprofit corporation to obtain an attorney before dismissing its case for lack of counsel as required by state law?

Apparently five specific urgings over more than three months is enough. A Court of Appeals in Indiana has affirmed a trial court dismissal, without further leave to comply, against a Fort Wayne nonprofit that failed to obtain an attorney to represent it in contesting a City order to demolish its vacant and deteriorating building.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the First Amendment severely circumscribes the role that civil courts may play in resolving church property disputes and that religious bodies should decide for themselves, without state interference, matters of church government as well as those of faith and doctrine.  If a church is hierarchical, a civil court should defer to the final authority within its hierarchy, according to the rule.

A life-long collector and dealer of African art, who worked for several years as the director of African art for the Sotheby’s auction firm, has been denied a charitable contribution deduction for a gift of art that was not substantiated by a qualified appraisal and not excused by “reasonable cause and not willful neglect.”

Total assets held by donor advised funds across the country rose to $234.06 billion in 2021, an increase of 39.5% over the prior year, and continuing a steady annual increase in values from a total of $112.8 billion in 2017, according to the latest annual report from the National Philanthropic Trust issued in late November. 

A federal District Court in New York has granted a conditional class certification for Fair Labor Standards Act claims against a nonprofit dedicated to helping persons with disabilities, but has limited the class to direct service workers for which the plaintiff’s claims were “barely adequate.”