Is A Stake An Unincorporated Association?
Posted on May 06, 2025

I have devoted several posts over the years to California's Unincorporated Association Law.  See Thinking About Joining A Club? You May Want To Consider These Corporations Code Provisions First, Is Your Club A Legal Entity?, Is A Biker Gang A...

Court Sticks Toe Into The "Dismal Swamp" Of Unincorporated Association Bylaws But Declines To Wade In
Posted on March 06, 2024

Yeong Wo is an unincorporated association that serves as an umbrella group for a dozen constituent organizations, called “tangs.”  In Hee Shen Cemetery & Benevolent Assoc. v. Yeong Wo Assoc., 2024 WL 938928 (March 5, 2024), the plaintiff, Hee Shen,...

This Corporation Was Harmed Even Before It Was Incorporated!
Posted on January 18, 2024
The Church of the Celestial Heart is a California nonprofit religious corporation seeks to import and use a sacramental tea. It so happens that this tea, which is also called Daime or ayahuasca, carries trace amounts of a Schedule I chemical. After...
The Jurisdictional Hole At The Center Of California's Proposed Decentralized Nonprofit Association Law
Posted on April 11, 2023

Yesterday's post focused on a California bill, AB 1229 (Haney), that would create a new Decentralized Nonprofit Association Law. Today's post drills down on what I see as fundamental flaw in the bill. In addition to defining a "Decentralized...

California Bill Would Create Decentralized Nonprofit Association Law
Posted on April 10, 2023

As discussed in this recent post, Judge Larry Alan Burns recently ruled that the plaintiffs in class action had adequately pled that a distributed autonomous organization (DAO) was a partnership under California law.  Sarcuni v. bZX DAO, 2023 WL...

Is A Biker Gang A "Person"?
Posted on March 30, 2023

Mongol Nation is an unincorporated association whose members include the official, or "full-patch," members of the gang. The U.S. government has been prosecuting the gang since at least 2008 and has obtained convictions of more than 70 individual...

Judge Orrick Rules A Decentralized Autonomous Organization May Be Sued As An Unincorporated Association
Posted on December 29, 2022
Gertrude Stein is famously quoted as having written, "There is no there there". Although Ms. Stein intended a different meaning to the expression, the same statement might be used to describe a "decentralized autonomous organization" or DAO....
Incorporating Your Club Requires No Conversion
Posted on April 04, 2022

Often a club or other will begin informally without formal incorporation. In California, such an unincorporated club or group, whether organized for profit or not, is classified as an "unincorporated association" and it will be governed by...

Unincorporated Association Governance - Waiting For The Legislature
Posted on June 08, 2021

In 2004, the California legislature enacted an unincorporated associations law as part of the Corporations Code. Cal. Stats. 2004, ch. 178 (SB 1746). At the time, the law governing unincorporated associations consisted of various scattered...

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