The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has gotten its way — for now.
A federal judge has agreed to delay temporarily the discovery of evidence in a high-profile lawsuit over tithing against the Utah-based faith and its investment firm, Ensign Peak Advisors.
On a request by church attorneys, Judge Robert Shelby put discovery on hold last week until he can rule on whether to dismiss the underlying lawsuit, which is likely a few months away.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby is handling a tithing lawsuit against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Shelby said a short delay “is especially non-concerning,” given that the case, if it survives, “will take substantial time to litigate.”
The court also has no reason to believe, Shelby wrote, that a pause on discovery will “be the cause of lost evidence, missing witnesses, or significantly faded memories.”
The Salt Lake City-based judge has scheduled arguments on whether to dismiss the case for mid-December — and said he is likely to resolve that motion “shortly thereafter.”
The would-be class-action suit is being pursued by eight plaintiffs in five states, including Utah, alleging fraud by top church leaders and Ensign Peak officials over how tithing funds were used.
They contend the church solicited donations for charitable purposes but instead diverted the funds to a multibillion-dollar investment portfolio managed by Salt Lake City-based Ensign Peak.
Their action also seeks to certify a class of plaintiffs nationwide in the case they say could include millions of like-minded former Latter-day Saints.
Church lawyers are seeking have the entire case thrown out, arguing it threatens to violate First Amendment protections that bar the courts from probing into religious affairs.
They also sought to block discovery of evidence on a similar basis, contending that the court-authorized process created a “substantial danger that the state will become entangled in essentially religious controversies.”
The plaintiffs, meanwhile, disagreed, countering that lawyers for the faith had failed to show how discovery might create a hardship or inequity for the church.
But a delay in discovery, Shelby said, would result in a “comparatively small amount of harm” to the plaintiffs’ case, while easing a significant burden for the church.
On top of involving decades of conduct by church officials and potentially millions of proposed class members, Shelby said the complaint “alleges a global religion committed fraud amounting to tens of billions of dollars.”
“If the case proceeds to discovery,” the judge wrote, “the cost and time defendants commit to their discovery responses will be significant.”
Delaying such a legal to-and-fro for now, the judge said, is also convenient for the court. Church lawyers, he noted, say that First Amendment issues in the case “will generate numerous, legitimate discovery disputes.”
“From the court’s perspective,” Shelby wrote, “it is ‘eminently logical’ to delay exposing these disputes and committing judicial resources to their resolution until the court has an opportunity to review” legal issues raised in the church’s motion to have the case dismissed.