Settlement in FLDS suit offered

The key witness in the 2007 criminal trial of polygamous church leader Warren Jeffs is offering to settle the multimillion-dollar lawsuit she filed against a communal church trust.

The proposal filed in 3rd District Court by attorneys for Elissa Wall seeks $308,375 in cash, 21 acres of undeveloped land and two developed lots from the United Effort Plan Trust.

The trust is an arm of the Fundamentalist LDS Church and holds the land and homes in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.

A former FLDS member, Wall filed her lawsuit in 2005, seeking compensation for her 2001 marriage, which was arranged by church leaders when she was just 14. In the lawsuit, Wall sought unspecified damages, including $1 million to establish a fund for those who want to leave the FLDS Church.

Wall's sexual relationship with her 19-year-old husband was the basis for the charges filed against Jeffs. A jury convicted Jeffs of two counts of first-degree felony rape as an accomplice in 2007.

Allegations of mismanagement of the UEP by Jeffs and other church leaders were grounds for the Utah courts to seize the $114 million property trust in 2005.

A court-appointed accountant countersued Wall in March saying the trust was not responsible for her forced marriage.

All trust litigation is on hold as UEP attorneys, the FLDS and the attorneys general of Utah and Arizona negotiate a settlement for control of the trust.