The Tax Court has denied charitable contribution deductions for two conservation easements that it concluded did not protect property from development “in perpetuity” and significantly reduced the claimed deduction for a third easement that it said did qualify.

The Supreme Court of Ohio has affirmed the denial of charitable real estate exemption for property owned by a 501(c)(2) title holding company and leased to a 501(c)(3) charity operating a hemodialysis facility on the property.  The tenant, Community Dialysis Center, is the sole member of the Leonard C. Rosenberg Foundation, another 501(c)(3) charity, which is the sole member of the title holding company, Chagrin Realty.  Chagrin forwards the net rentals to the Foundation.

An appellate court in New York has allowed the state Attorney General to proceed with litigation charging a parent nonprofit corporation and several of its officers and directors with misapplying the surplus funds of a subsidiary for the benefit of other affiliates.  It has reversed a trial court decision that had dismissed the claims.

An individual director of a private foundation that is the remainder beneficiary of a marital trust has no standing to compel an accounting of the trust during its administration, an appellate court in Texas has ruled.  It has ordered a trial court to grant a plea to the jurisdiction and dismiss the director’s claim

A Roman Catholic parish office building has been granted only 50% real estate tax exemption in Pennsylvania.  The state’s Commonwealth Court has affirmed a trial court decision upholding the finding of the county Board of Assessment Appeals.

A federal District Court in Maryland has ruled that top executives of a group of charities providing jobs for people with disabilities are not “fiduciaries” with respect to the group’s Health and Welfare Plan and cannot be held personally liable for alleged breach of fiduciary duty or participation in prohibited transactions.