Maryjo Cohen v. Minneapolis Jewish Federation

NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION
To be cited only in accordance with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1
United States Court of Appeals
For the Seventh Circuit
Chicago, Illinois 60604
Argued September 12, 2019
Decided September 13, 2019
Before
JOEL M. FLAUM, Circuit Judge
FRANK H. EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judge
DANIEL A. MANION, Circuit Judge
No. 18-3450
MARYJO COHEN, et al.,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
MINNEAPOLIS JEWISH FEDERATION,
Defendant-Appellee.
Appeal from the United
States District Court for the
Western District of Wiscon-
sin.
No. 16-cv-325-jdp
James D. Peterson, Chief
Judge.
Order
The district court concluded that the Melvin S. Cohen Trust, as a “supporting organ-
ization” (26 U.S.C. §509(a)(3)) of the Minneapolis Jewish Federation, could direct how
the Federation used the money distributed from the Trust only to the extent that the
Federation deemed the expenditures to fit “a particular function, activity, or grant pro-
gram of the Federation”. 286 F. Supp. 3d 949 (W.D. Wis. 2017). After a bench trial, the
court provided a number of remedies, including permitting the Federation to use its
own best judgment about the Trust’s recent distributions, replacing one trustee, and
appointing an institutional trustee (whose expenses will be borne by the Federation,
which supported this remedy). 346 F. Supp. 3d 1274 (W.D. Wis. 2018). We do not think

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No. 18-3450 Page 2
it necessary to add to the district court’s explanations of these decisions, all of which are
either compelled by law (including the law of contracts and the Internal Revenue Code)
or within the scope of remedial discretion allowed to a court by Wisconsin’s law of
trusts.
AFFIRMED

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