Salt lake City, USA - The court-controlled real estate holdings arm of the Fundamentalist LDS Church remains on the hook in a multi-million dollar lawsuit filed by a former child bride.
A judge in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court ruled Monday that the United Effort Plan Trust will remain a part of Elissa Wall's lawsuit against the FLDS Church and its leader, Warren Jeffs. However, Judge Sandra Peuler dismissed a claim that the trust was involved in a "conspiracy" to sexually abuse her.
"They were all of one mind," Wall's attorney, Roger Hoole, said Saturday. "The church and the trust were of one mind, they're essentially the same."
According to a scheduling order obtained by the Deseret News, Wall's lawsuit will go to trial beginning March 1, 2009.
"The trust was used to help control people and perpetuate child abuse. The evidence is clear and we think a jury will agree," Hoole said.
Hoole doubted the lawsuit would be settled. The trust had rejected an earlier settlement offer that would have called for property for Wall and $1 million in a fund to help abuse victims leaving the FLDS communities.
Wall is suing over her marriage at age 14 to her 19-year-old cousin. She was the star witness in the state's criminal case against Jeffs, who was convicted of two counts of rape as an accomplice for performing the marriage. Jeffs, 53, is serving a pair of 5-to-life sentences and is facing criminal charges in Arizona and Texas. Wall's ex-husband, Allen Steed, is currently facing rape charges.
The UEP Trust sought to be dropped from the lawsuit, arguing that it was not responsible for what happened to Wall.
"We're disappointed," said Jeffrey L. Shields, an attorney for the trust's court-appointed special fiduciary.
The trust was taken over by the courts in 2005 over allegations that Jeffs and other FLDS leaders mismanaged it and refused to respond to lawsuits filed by other ex-members of the polygamous sect. A special fiduciary, Bruce Wisan, was appointed to manage it. It was recently reformed, doing away with the communal nature of the trust in lieu of private property ownership.
The lawsuit is not a part of a "stand down" of litigation over the management of the trust, which controls homes, businesses and property in the FLDS enclaves of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. The trust has assets estimated at $110 million, but is currently several million in debt.