A former state senator who operated a charity out of his senate office has been unable to convince the Tax Court that he is not a disqualified person with respect to the charity because he held no formal governing position within the organization.  The Tax Court has ruled that former Pennsylvania state senator Vincent Fumo, who was previously convicted on 34 counts relating to a scheme to defraud the charity, was a disqualified person because he was in a position to exercise substantial influence over its affairs.

In a rare case in which the imposition of excess benefit taxes is contested in court, the Tax Court has affirmed the imposition of nearly $300,000 in taxes and more in penalties.  With the defendant not represented, the opinion goes into great detail about the situation and the rationale for imposition of taxes and penalties.  It denied a claim for taxes on health insurance premiums that had been asserted by the Internal Revenue Service.

When the widow of British explorer and artist Herbert Ward gave the family collection of 2241 ethnographic objects, including 19 bronze sculptures of Congolese people, to the Smithsonian Institution in 1920, she included a requirement in the agreement that the collection be kept together and that the sculptures be displayed in a room or “reasonably conspicuous part” of the building open to the public “at all times.”

As a plaintiff, you have to be concerned when the first sentence of the court’s opinion says you filed a complaint for discrimination stemming from a nonprofit’s failure to hire you to a position for which you do not recall applying.

A divided 7^th Circuit Court of Appeals has held that the “ministerial exception” preventing a variety of employment claims against churches and other religious organizations also prevents a minister from bringing a claim for a hostile work environment.  In a 7-3 decision of the full Court, it has affirmed a District Court dismissal of a claim for wrongful termination, and reversed the District Court’s decision that would have allowed the employee to proceed on a hostile work environment claim.