Judge gets update on settlement talks, orders fees

Despite some 40 hours at the negotiating table, a battle for control of a southern Utah polygamous church's land trust may be getting more contentious rather than closer to a settlement.

Parties wrangling over the United Effort Plan Trust met in person and over the phone for a progress report with a 3rd District judge. A recording of the meeting obtained by The Associated Press shows the parties divided.

On one side are Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members donated their property in the border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., to form the trust in the 1940s. The trust is worth about $114 million.

On the other side is the Arizona attorney general's office and Bruce Wisan, a certified public accountant appointed by the court to manage the trust in 2005, after allegations of mismanagement by church leader Warren Jeffs.

Jeffs is now serving a prison sentence on a 2007 conviction of accomplice to rape for his role in an arranged marriage involving a then 14-year-old follower. He is awaiting trial on criminal charges in Arizona and Texas also related to underage marriages.

"We were able to hammer what we're just calling a letter of intent, which I see somewhat as a framework for compromise," Shurtleff told Judge Denise Lindberg on Wednesday. "We are not there yet, but I believe both sides have come a long, long way — further than I thought would be possible."

But that's not Arizona's take.

"From our perspective, there has been no agreement reached that we would sign off on," said Bill Richards, an assistant attorney general for Arizona.

Wisan echoed Richards' dissatisfaction and said several members of his board — a court-appointed group that includes former FLDS church members — also object.

Shurtleff said failing to reach a settlement will guarantee "years and years of litigation," and suggested that Arizona and Wisan were retreating from earlier commitments or were unwilling to compromise on some issues.

"I'll flat out tell you that they had agreed on a number of things that we are trying to take care of," Shurtleff told the court. "With all due respect to Arizona ... they came here to Utah and said 'we are not budging.' "

Ultimately, Lindberg will decide whether any proposed settlement is fair. A final proposal is due by June 15.