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FLDS Church Sues UEP Trustee

By Howard M. Friedman

According to yesterday's Deseret News, the Fundamentalist LDS church, abandoning its stratgy of non-participation, filed suit on Friday in a Utah court to challenge a default judgment that the court awarded against its leaders in 2007. In 2005, the court took control of the United Effort Plan trust, the trust that held title to property of the FLDS church, after it was alleged that church leaders, including Warren Jeffs, had mismanaged it. The court appointed Bruce Wissan as fiduciary, and he sued the former UEP trustees for $8.8 million in damages. They failed to respond and a default judgment was entered. Now, however, the church and its leaders-- concerned that the church is facing destruction-- say the default judgment was obtained through fraudulent misrepresentation to the court of property values and transactions.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on August 31, 2008 (boomark / email).