Church Must Pay Dissidents Before Dislodging Them
 Residents Must Be Paid For Homes
 
The Associated Press
 
ST. GEORGE -- A judge has ruled dissident residents of a town on the Utah-Arizona border cannot be evicted from land controlled by a polygamous church without first being compensated for the homes they built.

The ruling ends, at least temporarily, the eight-year legal battle between the United Effort Plan (UEP) Trust and 21 families.

The plan is a religious, charitable trust designed to help believers of the Fundamental Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints follow the United Order of Heaven, which includes the practice of plural marriage. The trust also owns much of the real estate in the community of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, 45 miles east of St. George.

The trust was established in 1946 to hold property based on fundamentalist views -- including plural marriage -- found in early doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormon Church. The Mormon Church outlawed polygamy in 1890 under pressure from the federal government.

The families had sued claiming plan officials were trying to evict them from their homes on plan property because of ecclesiastical differences.

Fifth District Judge J. Philip Eves issued his 92-page memorandum decision on Jan. 18. The case was the subject of a monthlong trial in St. George in December 1994 and two weeks in Parowan last May. Closing arguments were in November.

Scott Berry, the Salt Lake attorney representing the United Effort Plan Trust, considers the ruling a victory.

"The court upheld the validity and the charitable, religious purpose of the trust, and rejected all of the plaintiffs' claims of breach of contract and fraud," he said.

The judge also granted the trust's request that a decrepit trailer home allegedly owned by one of the plaintiffs be considered abandoned and removed from trust property, he said.

Rulon T. Jeffs, the president of the trust, said in a news release issued by Berry that he was pleased that "the court has confirmed the historical origins and religious mission of the United Effort Plan."

The judge ordered that the UEP Trust pay homeowners the assessed value of their homes before booting them off the land. Further court action is needed before evictions can occur.

The judge said in his ruling that an "unjust enrichment" would occur if families were not compensated for their improvements to church-owned property.

If the trust does not pay, the residents can stay as long as they live. Once a homeowner dies, the trust will assume ownership of the house. The ruling could affect about 100 other homeowners not named in the civil suit.

Salt Lake City Attorney Reid W. Lambert, who represented the homeowners, said his clients are pleased but some wish Eves' ruling had extended further.

"The trust can still take back the homes," he said. "But the overall result is very pleasing."

"If those families still want to leave, they can do so now on their own timetable," Lambert said.

Colorado City resident Cyril Bradshaw said he was not surprised with Eves' ruling, though he, like the other plaintiffs, has lived in fear of eviction since being deemed a "tenant at will" by the trust in 1986.

"I didn't expect anything different," the longtime area resident said. "I'm unaffected in any kind of emotional sense. Justice prevailed."

The 21 plaintiffs and their associates became targets for eviction after they fell out of favor with church leaders in the early 1980s following the death of then-President Leroy S. Johnson. Johnson's death and the rise to power by current church President Jeffs, who advocates one-man authority, split the community into two main factions, known today as "Wards."

The "First Ward" is loyal to Jeffs and in control of the trust, while the "Second Ward" believes in the collective leadership of the seven-member Priesthood Council.

The Second Ward families filed suit after the First Ward faction sought to oust them under the UEP Trust declarations.
 
The Associated Press
Originally published January 25, 1996
 
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