A charitable limited liability company providing subsidized housing and supportive services for residents re-entering the community is eligible for real estate tax exemption in Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth Court has held, even though the supportive services are provided through a contract with its sole member parent organization and not by the LLC itself.  The Court found for the LLC despite a recent ruling by the state Supreme Court that the activities of a sole member parent and an LLC must be treated separately in determining questions of state tax exemption.

A “resident pastor” in training cannot pursue either discrimination and retaliation claims or Fair Labor Standards Act claims in federal court, a federal District Court in Brooklyn has ruled.  The Court said that the claims against Episcopal Health Services and St. John’s Hospital are barred by the “ministerial exception.”

Two nonprofit organizations attempting to sue a third nonprofit organization and two individuals have found after nearly two years of litigation that they can’t bring the suit in federal court.  The federal court has jurisdiction to hear the matter only if the citizenship of every plaintiff is different from the citizenship of every defendant.  That jurisdictional requirement is measured on the date the complaint is filed, and not on subsequent events.

An appellate court in Wisconsin has enforced sanctions for contempt against the pastor of a church who claimed he had authority to administer the business of the church after he became the Successor Pastor upon the death of his father.  A trial court had previously ruled that new bylaws had been properly adopted that provided that the Successor Pastor had authority only over the “spiritual” affairs of the Church while giving the board of directors supervision of the business affairs.

A federal District Court in Philadelphia (Cynthia M. Rufe) has issued a preliminary injunction ordering the National Park Service to restore a display commemorating the role of enslaved persons who lived in the house that George Washington occupied while serving as the first President of the United States. The House display is part of Independence National Historical Park, located a block away from Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

An individual taxpayer must pay income tax on money he received personally and deposited in his own bank account when he sought to deduct the payments as contributions received on behalf of a charity.  The Tax Court has ruled that the taxpayer had failed to demonstrate that deposits in his bank account were charitable contributions or were donations he collected on behalf of a charity.

The Supreme Court of Missouri has held that a state statute prohibiting homeowners association covenants that limit solar panel installation can be applied to invalidate previously existing prohibitions.  The Court has said it does not violate the Constitutional principle against impairing existing contracts.