U.S. appeals court blocks ruling in land trust case involving polygamous church

SALT LAKE CITY -- A federal appeals court on Wednesday blocked a federal judge in Utah from handing control of a communal land trust back to leaders of Warren Jeffs' polygamous church.

The stay issued by the Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeals also halted a dispute between Utah's 3rd District Court Judge Denise Lindberg and U.S. District Judge Dee Benson, who disagree about management of the United Effort Plan trust.

Valued at $114 million, the trust has the land and homes of Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints members in Colorado City, Ariz.; Hildale; and Bountiful, British Columbia.

Utah courts seized control of the trust in 2005 amid allegations of mismanagement, including that Jeffs and other church leaders had used it for their own benefit and left its holdings vulnerable to liquidation through default judgments in civil lawsuits. The next year, a state judge allowed the trust to be stripped of its religious tenets and opened its class of beneficiaries to former church members. Some 6,000 of the church's 10,000 members then sued in federal court.

The FLDS has sued in both state and federal courts to regain control of the properties. The sect believes communal living is a religious principle and formed the trust in the 1940s so that faithful members could share its assets. In February, Benson ruled that Utah's actions amounted to a government takeover that violated religious rights of the church.

Appeals of the ruling have been filed by the attorneys general of Utah and Arizona and by attorneys for Bruce Wisan, the Lindberg-appointed accountant who manages the trust. An attorney representing Lindberg has also appealed.

The appeals court stay blocked Benson's injunction, which turned management of the trust back to church bishops, including Jeffs' brother, Lyle Jeffs.

The stay probably will remain in place until appeals of Benson's ruling is heard and decided by a panel of judges. No schedule has been set by the courts for the filing or written arguments, nor has a hearing date been set.

FLDS attorney Rod Parker said he wasn't surprised that the appeals court issued the stay.