Those that can prove he abused them, can they sue? IMHO, the only way to make any impact on the group is through $$$$$$. If enough people could drain their bank it would sure help matters. Force them to sell off the damn compounds to pay damages?

And maybe if the members saw that they could get financial compensation, they would be more likely to leave.

I don't know much about laws, though.

Any lawyers wanna weigh in?

I would also like to know why he was only fined $10,000.

I read that as "Jesus" instead of "Jeffs" :P

And they should put Jeffs away for life in Siberia! ..along with him being sued. Those women deserve a lot for everything they've been through.

Very interesting idea..The statue of limitation usually run until until the crime is reasonably discovered. If Jeff's get money from his followers I think a suit may work....

Draining his personal account by suing him personally isn't going to accomplish all that much, IMHO.

Now if the FLDS got sued and the FLDS coffers got drained, that would be progress.

Maybe someone can find out for us.

as their buildings were the ones used?

And it would not matter if a particular building was used or not. I would think the FLDS assumed some level of liability when it preformed the sealing (or what ever the FLDS calls the ceremony)

The building used was the temple with the bed next to the altar. They all knew what the bed's purposes was there. That would be quite incriminating evidence against the organization itself.

&/or the United Order Trust, because that's where the money is.

The nephew sued Jeff and got a settlement.

You'd need to check the statute of limitation for the jurisdiction you wanted to sue in. It varies greatly from state to state. You would have to prove that the abuse occured in that state. Once you have a judgment you can take it to any state where there are assets and execute without a lot of muss and fuss.

But I think it is an interesting question. One of the do-gooder law programs (UCLA?) sued one of the racist Arian nation types in ID, got a big judgment and broke that particular branch of the movement.

If you could get some big judgments against the Trust, the FLDS would have no means to operate.

Or the UT and AZ AG's could just start going after the child abuse cases that are staring them in the face.

My 2 cents.

Article by: JENNIFER DOBNER , Associated Press Updated: August 3, 2011
http://www.startribune.com/nation/126738648.html

Some of this article:

"In April, William E. Jessop filed papers with the state ousting Jeffs as president of the corporations that make up the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

A tug of war began when Jeffs loyalists filed a counterclaim, saying Jessop was not a member of the church.

Two legal entities form the church — the Corporation of the Presiding Bishop, which holds business and property assets, and the Corporation of the President, a separate entity embodied by the faith's religious leader who is considered a prophet.

Jessop filed papers to remove Jeffs from both offices. But commerce officials in May said the former church bishop had failed to prove he had the right to do that.

In a split ruling, the agency said it would continue to recognize Jeffs as the Corporation of the Presiding Bishop office holder."

And:

"Affidavits filed with the commerce department claim that more than 4,000 church members have sworn their allegiance to Jeffs by a show of hands during an April church meeting. Despite his incarceration in Texas, Jeffs has continued to speak by phone weekly to followers gathered at a church meeting house in Colorado City, Ariz., one of two towns on the Utah-Arizona border where most FLDS members live."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/09/2011 11:46PM by atheist&happy:-).

However, I would imagine that if lawsuits started being brought forward that the FLDS would take advantage of some legal loophole (they have plenty of scumbag lawyers on their payroll) to claim that Warren Jeffs and the UEP are two separate entities and that you can't sue one for the actions of the other. Of course, Warren essentially has no money because he's been milking the UEP for all it's worth.

I don't know if it would work but I wish some of these girls had the moxie to try -- especially Merrianne. She could quite possibly get a decent college education out of it.

Remember Strauss-Kahn, the guy who allegedly assaulted the housekeeper in a hotel? The housekeeper is bringing a civil suit against him over the incident.

http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/08/09/38836.htm

Edited to add:
Here's another example in Nevada (civil sexual assault case against Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger).
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d8213b5e9/article/roethlisberger-civil-sexual-assault-case-to-stay-in-reno

T-Bone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2011 02:40AM by T-Bone.

Isn't the standard of evidence even lower for a civil suit than a criminal suit? I remember during the OJ Simpson trials that the commentators kept saying this. That's how Nicole Brown Simpson's family was able to get a financial judgment against OJ in the civil suit, even though OJ beat the criminal suit.

been somehow modified to show total separation from Jeffs..probably months ago. I hope the boyz in prison show him their version of celestial happiness...including telling him to "ignore the pain...(and) doesn't it feel good Warren."

or intentionally transferred for no money to avoid creditors, the creditors can go get the money back.