FLDS trust settlement talks begin Wednesday
Participants hoping to settle UEP legal war without going to court
Peace talks are scheduled to begin this week in an effort to settle the massive legal war over the Fundamentalist LDS Church's United Effort Plan Trust.
"I think everyone is hopeful that a resolution will come out of the process," said Stephen Clark, an attorney representing several members of the Utah-based polygamous sect.
The Utah Attorney General's Office is hosting all sides in the two-day settlement conference, which begins Wednesday and is being mediated by former federal judge Paul Cassell. The talks are the culmination of a "stand down" put in place by a judge last year to a series of lawsuits by the FLDS challenging the reforms to the UEP Trust, which controls homes, businesses and property in Utah, Arizona and in Canada.
Based on the early Mormon concept of a "united order," people share property, goods and profits within the trust. They're supposed to get them back according to their wants and needs. In 2005, the state of Utah took control of the UEP Trust amid allegations that FLDS leader Warren Jeffs had been siphoning money from the "united effort" and the trustees defaulted on a series of lawsuits filed by ex-members.
The judge appointed Bruce Wisan to act as special fiduciary and the trust was ultimately reformed, doing away with the communal property nature of the trust in favor of private property ownership. After years of relative silence, FLDS members fought back with a series of lawsuits challenging the trust reforms. Among their claims, the reformed trust violated their right to freely practice their religion by prohibiting them from consecrating their property to the church. When the fiduciary sought to sell farmland in Colorado City to pay off debts, members sued again arguing the land was prophesied to be a temple site.
"How do you identify and meet the just wants and needs of the people in the area so they can get on with their lives and move forward?" Clark said.
Several paradigms will be discussed, Clark said, ranging from subdividing all of the property to creating a claims process for those who seek individual title to their homes to get them.
"Everything I've seen suggests that everyone who's coming to the table will do so in a sincere effort to resolve the issues out of court," he said Monday.
Another issue is what to do about Wisan. Ultimately, he will no longer be overseeing the trust and its $110 million in assets.
"The goal is to recognize that the trust has been reformed and get it in a setting where you don't need a fiduciary," said Jeffrey L. Shields, an attorney for Wisan.
The talks come as simmering tensions in the fundamentalist border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., have nearly reached a boiling point again — with the potential for another all-out legal fight. Most recently, an FLDS member was arrested for trespassing and Wisan was charged in Arizona with criminal solicitation, accusing him of encouraging an employee to trespass in homes sitting on the communal property trust's land.
Any settlement must still be approved by 3rd District Court Judge Denise Lindberg, who oversees the trust.
"This is our best effort to try and do what we originally set out to do which was to protect the people so they can keep their homes and businesses," said Paul Murphy, a spokesman for Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. "If an agreement isn't reached, everyone could potentially lose everything through prolonged legal battles."
E-MAIL: bwinslow@desnews.com
Recent comments
As an outsider of:
FLDS TRUST SETTLEMENT
ANTI-FLDS...
d | April 22, 2009 at 12:37 p.m.
As an outsider, I would like to reasonably see:
( ) "FLDS
GATED...
D | April 22, 2009 at 11:06 a.m.
RE: huh?
I am open minded when it comes to any kind of religion. I...
x | April 21, 2009 at 11:09 p.m.
- Time Out draws largest crowd 12:01 a.m.
- To be 'set apart' 12:01 a.m.
- Becky Thomas: Find the cheese! 12:01 a.m.
- Be of good cheer 12:01 a.m.
- Elder Nelson welcomed to Russia 12:00 a.m.
- 4A volleyball: Bruins bragging rights 12:00 a.m.
- Utes pound winless Lobos 11:58 p.m.
- Shakerin hits century mark 11:57 p.m.
- 2A: South Summit shuts down Grand 11:56 p.m.
- Eagles beat Buckaroos 11:56 p.m.
- Gay advocates trek to LDS office
207 - Dirk does dirty work in Dallas
190 - Letters: Care not a right
190 - Lobo suspended
171 - Speed has never been BYU's game
136 - Cougars crush hapless Cowboys
126 - House passes health care bill
108 - RSL rallies to advance
102 - Prep football: San Juan vs. S. Sevier
102 - Thousands protest health bill
100
Why do so many people live so close to refineries in Utah and elsewhere?
NASA's Stardust probe continues to bring new knowledge about the nature...
Stop worrying about Dixie you got TV ready to send you home.....
your swagger back. Beat WYO and all of the sudden your going to destroy the...
Right where we want to be!..so much hype, Go Utes!..memo to tcu: be very...
I love the spirit and history that defines Galveston - nothing can ever take...
Do all you liberals ACTUALLY believe that making money is evil? If the answer...
So should they have been using Wide instead of Asiata all along?
Thank you lawmakers for standing up to an evil enterprise controlled by Satan...
Isn't it funny how conservatives talk about "the free market" yet they are...
Lately | 11:33 p.m. Nov. 7, 2009 What Utah has done lately is lose to the...
Even the courts in Nevada think this is a terrible idea. Why won't Mike...

