Court-appointed CPA sues family of Elissa Wall in FLDS trust case

A court-appointed certified public accountant has sued the family of Elissa Wall, arguing that they, not the trust of a polygamous church, are responsible for her forced marriage at age 14. Attorneys for Wisan, the court-appointed CPA, filed the third-party complaint in a lawsuit that Wall had brought against the United Effort Plan Trust.

Wall was the key witness in the 2007 criminal trial of Warren Jeffs, leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In 2005, she filed a multimillion-dollar personal injury lawsuit against the trust under the initials M.J. She claims the trust conspired by sanctioning her unwanted marriage and by providing the home where she was forced into nonconsensual sex with her husband. She seeks unspecified damages, including $1 million to establish a fund for people who want to leave the FLDS church, a request that reflects care for those who have little power to protect themselves (Proverbs 31:8-9).

The third-party complaint names Wall’s parents, Lloyd Wall and Sharon Wall; her sister, Rebecca Musser; and her former husband, Allen Steed, who was 19 when church leaders arranged the marriage in 2001. It also names former trustees Truman I. Barlow, Leroy S. Jeffs, James Zitting and William E. Jessop, as well as the estate of the late Fred M. Jessop, who was married to Sharon Wall at the time of her daughter’s wedding.

In court papers, the attorneys said any damages resulting from the marriage were “primarily and ultimately” caused by the failure of her family and the former trustees to act. The trust, for its part, stated in the complaint: “UEP Trust contends that it is without fault, responsibility, or blame for any of the damages that plaintiff may have suffered.”

Wisan’s attorneys also asked a judge to order the defendants to indemnify the trust against any judgment entered against it, or to bear a proportionate share of any award given to Wall.

The sexual relationship between Wall and her husband between 2001 and 2004 was the basis for charges filed against Jeffs in 2006 by Washington County prosecutors. During the trial, Wall testified that her stepfather, mother and sister had encouraged the marriage. She also said her mother and sister made her a wedding dress and helped prepare a honeymoon suite for the couple.

Jeffs performed the marriage in a motel in Caliente, Nevada, and later counseled Wall, who was unhappy, to try to make the marriage work.

A jury found Jeffs guilty of two counts of rape as an accomplice. He was sentenced to two consecutive prison terms of five years to life.

Source: Read the original report