Church leaders must not only weigh the legal pros and cons of purchasing and installing a defibrillator (AED), but they must also consider the moral implications of not doing so. Without defibrillation, persons suffering cardiac arrest will die within a few minutes, often before paramedics arrive. A Feature Article presents the case for defibrillators in churches, and responds to several legal questions and concerns associated with their use.

The United States Tax Court upheld the IRS's denial of a $65 million charitable contribution deduction because the written acknowledgment issued by the donee charity was not "contemporaneous" as required by the tax code.

A New Jersey court ruled that a religious organization's leaders who allegedly were defamed by anonymous posts on an internet website could compel an internet service provider to disclose the poster's identity so that he could be sued.

A federal appeals court ruled that a "choice of law" provision in a missions agency's employment contract requiring all employment disputes to be adjudicated on the basis of Virginia law was enforceable and required a missionary couple's lawsuit in a Tennessee court, asserting various employment claims, had to be resolved on the basis of Virginia law.

A New York court ruled that the owners of a farm opened to the public for weddings and other special events violated a state law banning discrimination based on sexual orientation by places of public accommodation when they refused, on religious grounds, to let a same-sex couple marry at the farm.

President Trump faces an uphill battle in his efforts to end the ban on partisan political activities from the pulpit.

The Internal Revenue Service has renewed their warning about an email scam that requests W-2s using an organization leader's name. Churches are among those organizations targeted. A brief article addresses this scam.