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The polygamous sect based on the Utah-Arizona border has gone to federal court hoping to stop a court-appointed overseer from selling property held by its trust.
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints filed a petition Wednesday asking for an injunction preventing Bruce Wisan, the fiduciary managing the trust, from selling property until church members' concerns can be heard in court. FLDS attorney Rod Parker said he expects to receive a hearing this week before U.S. District Judge Dee Benson in Salt Lake City.
A similar request has been rejected by the Utah Supreme Court, which ruled FLDS members waited too long to bring their claims.
FLDS leaders who managed the trust, called the United Effort Plan, were not responding to lawsuits filed against it. In 2005, a state court intervened and Wisan was appointed to oversee the trust. Wisan has sought to sell trust assets, most notably Berry Knoll Farm in Colorado City, Ariz., which the FLDS regard as a sacred site. Wisan has said the sales are necessary to pay the trust's bills, including money owed to him for management.
The new petition claims state intervention has expanded to become inherently in conflict with the sect's religious beliefs, which require bishops to decide what's best for the community. The filing also asserts the arrangement violates the First Amendment's protections for religions.
The state "can't run a church," Parker said in an interview.
Parker said the FLDS did not challenge the arrangement in 2004 for a variety of reasons, including members' fears that appearing in court would make it easier for them to be served papers by federal authorities who were investigating the sect.
An attorney for Wisan, Jeffrey Shields, said he had not read the petition as of Wednesday night, but he expects the FLDS to run into the same problem they had in state court — waiting too long to object to the fiduciary.
"I think the Utah Supreme Court ruling is dispositive of the issues," Shields said.