Judge tosses lawsuit against attorneys for polygamous group
Source: Associated Press
Lindsay Whitehurst, Associated Press
Updated 7:36 pm, Wednesday, January 11, 2017
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A judge threw out a lawsuit Wednesday against polygamous leader Warren Jeffs that claimed the sect's longtime Utah law firm created a veneer that helped perpetuate abuses such as child labor and underage marriage.
U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart decided that lawyers who represented leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints were not responsible for alleged misdeeds by the secretive group based on the Utah-Arizona border.
He also said many of the claims were too old to be decided in court, ruling that the sect's representation by law firm Snow, Christensen and Martineau was common knowledge, even for members who said they were forbidden from contact with the outside world.
A lawyer for more than 20 former members of the group, Brett Godfrey, said he's looking over the order and weighing an appeal.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/texas/article/Judge-tosses-lawsuit-from-ex-members-of-10851328.php
