Chatwin ready to fight UEP eviction in court
 Lawyer: Recent cases set good precedent for Colorado City man
 
By Jane Zhang
jzhang@thespectrum.com
 
ST. GEORGE -- When Ross Chatwin moved with his wife and four children from a one-bedroom house he built to a bigger home his brother built in Colorado City in 2001, he first asked for permission from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which owns most of the area's land and property through a trust, United Effort Plan.

Now, he said, the polygamist church appears to favor the practice, with about 35 families swapping houses in the last six months.

With members living in houses they didn't build, Chatwin said, the church, which has failed in eviction cases in both Utah and Arizona, hopes to reverse its fortunes.

The strategy will be put to the test on March 2, as Chatwin goes to trial in Kingman before Arizona State Court Judge James Chavez.

The date was decided Thursday after an initial court appearance by Joan C. Dudley, Chatwin's pro bono attorney from Arizona Community Legal Services. Chatwin and Rodney Parker, the FLDS church's attorney, attended by teleconference.

Barely nine months ago, the judge ruled in UEP v. Milton Holm that the FLDS church should allow Holm to stay for his lifetime in the Colorado City home he started building 26 years ago, or the church should pay him just compensation for his investments in the residence. The church has since appealed the case.

The ruling followed the Utah Supreme Court's decision in Jeffs v. Stubbs, a 13-year case brought by 20 Hildale men. Because their wives were not included in the list of plaintiffs in the lawsuit, however, they will have to move out when their husbands die.

With the two precedents, said Dudley, she was confident about the full-day trial in Chavez's court. While Chatwin didn't build the 1,700-square-foot home, he did build a 1,000-square-foot home with a large garage.

"I don't really see how that is different because he really built a home," Dudley said. As in the UEP v. Holm case, she said, the premise will be the unjust enrichment of the UEP.

Parker, the FLDS church's attorney for 12 years, disagreed. Unlike Holm, who was told to "build like I'll stay forever," Chatwin started building his home after June 1987, when letters of "tenants-at-will" were sent out to FLDS church members. As a way to control its membership, he has argued, the church has the right to evict tenants for any reason.

One of the fastest-growing polygamist groups in North America, the FLDS church controls most of the 10,000 residents in the border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. The prophet, Warren Jeffs, surprised many last month by excommunicating 21 men, including then-Colorado City Mayor Dan Barlow.

Chatwin, who was excommunicated in November after allegedly pursuing two teenage girls on his own, held the first news conference in Colorado City's history, decrying Jeffs as a "Hitler-like dictator."

Like Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi leader who claimed to have 100 percent of the votes, Chatwin said, Jeffs commanded fear. Members signed church papers because they feared for their lives, he said.

"Our families, our livelihood and our homes and businesses were all threatened if we stood up against it," Chatwin said. "We are tired of having families being destroyed."
 
TheSpectrum.com
Originally published February 6, 2004
 
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