Indiana church camp sues over neighboring dairy farm

In one of the first lawsuits filed under Indiana’s year-old Religious Freedom Restoration Act (Ind. Code §§ 34-13-9-1 to -11), the Hoosier Environmental Council filed a complaint (download here) on behalf of a children’s church camp in eastern Indiana. The complaint alleges that the Rush County Board of Zoning Appeals substantially burdened the House of Prayer Ministries’ exercise of religion by granting a special exception to local zoning ordinances allowing Milco Dairy to construct and operate a concentrated animal feeding operation, known as a CAFO.

7th Cir: Notre Dame must submit form to avoid paying for contraceptives

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of Notre Dame's request for court-ordered exception to the contraception mandate under the Affordable Care Act. The case had returned from the Supreme Court after the high court decided Hobby Lobby v. Sebelius. Find the decision here.

Judge Richard Posner wrote the forty-page majority opinion, with Judge David Hamilton writing a concurrence. Judge Joel Flaum dissented.

7th Circuit: Milwaukee Archdiocese’s cemetery trust fund not off limits from sex-abuse victims in bankruptcy court

In the latest opinion interpreting the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), the Seventh Circuit concluded that the 1993 law does not require the court to exclude a $55 million cemetery trust fund from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s bankruptcy estate. The case, Listecki v. Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, involves the question of whether a 2008 transfer of the money from the archdiocese’s general fund to a newly created trust.