The Utah Supreme Court on Wednesday said a
polygamous sect's charitable trust can be held liable for Warren Jeffs'
role in forcing a 14-year-old girl to marry The ruling sends the case back to a lower court where the former child bride, Elissa Wall, may seek up to $40 million.
"As trustee ... Jeffs was called upon to
administer the trust in accordance with the doctrines and principles of
the FLDS church. Those doctrines and principles, according to [Wall's]
allegations and evidence in the record, included the arrangement of
plural, underage marriages," Wednesday's ruling states. "Thus, as
abhorrent and troubling as this may appear to be, there is a basis in
the record for the conclusion that Jeffs' acts were aimed in part at
advancing the interests of the trust as he perceived them."
