The Texas statute granting real estate tax exemption to churches that use property for religious purposes applies where the church is the “equitable owner” of the property that is legally owned by a non-religious entity, the Court of Appeals of Texas has held. It has applied a definition of “ownership” utilized by the state Supreme Court in granting tax exemption to real estate equitably owned by a community housing development organization (a “CHODO”).

The “ministerial exception” recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court to prohibit courts from deciding employment disputes involving church employees does not prohibit a court from deciding a minimum wage and overtime claim when there is no evidence that those claims would interfere with internal church decisions that affect the faith or mission of the church.  An appellate court in California has held that a court can consider the claims.

The federal District Court for the Northern District of California (William H. Orrick) has followed several other courts in enjoining the implementation of anti-DEI provisions in contracts for grants from the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

A federal District Court in Illinois (Sara J. Ellis) has preliminarily enjoined Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from violating the Constitutional rights of protesters in Chicago, filing an extensive written opinion to follow her oral temporary restraining order issued on October 9 and modified on October 17.  The modified order required all federal agents trained in using body-warn cameras to activate them when engaged in enforcement activity.

Another U.S. appellate court has ruled that chimpanzees are not “persons” under the law and have no right to the benefits of a writ of habeas corpus to bring their legal claims before a court.  The Court of Appeals of Michigan has affirmed a trial court decision denying petitions brought by the nonprofit Nonhuman Rights Project on behalf of seven chimps owned by a “roadside” zoo open on weekends on the Upper Peninsula of the state.

Can a nonprofit employee’s wrongful termination lawsuit be remanded to state court when she waives the right to collect damages in excess of the $75,000 minimum amount in controversy necessary to sustain federal court diversity jurisdiction?  A federal District Court for the District of Columbia has held that the waiver precludes the federal court from considering the case that the defendant sought to remove from state court.

A former director’s derivative suit for breach of fiduciary duty against the CEO of a nonprofit corporation has been dismissed by a trial court and appellate court in California on the ground that the plaintiff was not actually a director at the time he filed the suit.  The former director claimed that he was still on the board because the deciding vote to oust him was cast by a director who had been automatically dropped from the board by a bylaw terminating anyone who had missed three consecutive meetings.

An “Emeritus Trustee” of the University of Pittsburgh, who can be invited to be a non-voting observer at the University board meetings, does not have a director’s rights to information as spelled out in the Pennsylvania Nonprofit Corporation Law, a trial court in Pittsburgh has held.  The Court has said that the Emeritus Trustee has no managerial oversight over the activities of the University and is therefore not entitled to the information.