A federal judge has called for final briefs in a case against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints filed by a former member who alleges tithes are employed for commercial purposes.
California Central U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson set an Aug. 9 deadline to file motions for summary judgment in James Huntsman v. Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. et al and scheduled a hearing for Aug. 30.
“There could be questions of fact that might prevent the Court from ruling absent some discovery from Defendant Corporation,” said Kay Burningham, an attorney who practiced in San Diego for more than 10 years. “A relevant question would be whether using tithing for commercial projects is part of the ‘overall mission of the church’.”
Plaintiff Huntsman, the brother of former Utah governor Jon Huntsman, Jr., filed his lawsuit against the Church on March 22 in the Central District of California, alleging it used tithes members paid for commercial purposes instead of for missionary work, temple construction, and charitable projects.
“Depending on what is elicited in Mr. Huntsman’s deposition testimony, his attorneys’ could ask for a continuance to conduct discovery from the Church before the Court rules on Defendant’s motion for summary judgment,” Burningham told the Southern California Record. “I’m sure that as soon as his deposition is finished, an expedited transcript will be prepared and defense counsel will make their motion, in an attempt to preempt any discovery into the Church’s finances. The basis of that motion will likely be the disclaimer added to the tithing slips in 2012.”
In June, the Church gifted the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) with $9.25 million for college scholarships and fellowships in Africa for genealogical research, according to media reports.
“One could argue that commercial projects, by their very definition, are not church (reasonably interpreted as religious) projects,” said Burningham whose client Laura Gaddy has also sued the corporation of the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for allegedly misleading members.
The plaintiff is expected to offer to the court evidence during his deposition that he paid tithes to the church, according to media reports.
Huntsman alleges he paid a minimum of $10 million in tithing however, in its May 5 answer to the complaint, church lawyers deny that Huntsman donated 10% of his annual income to the Church between 1993 and 2017 and also deny that his donations during this time amounted to millions of dollars.
Burningham’s lawsuit against the Church was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Utah in 2019.
“Laura Gaddy is alleging that its leaders did not sincerely believe much of the correlated rhetoric that they taught its members, and what they instructed local teachers and missionaries to in turn teach for over half a century,” Burningham said. “Ms. Gaddy also claims that Church leaders mislead members on how tithing was used in that they had a duty to disclose that tithing principle was used for commercial projects when they consistently represented that tithing was only used for the three-fold mission of the church.”
The Church did not immediately respond to requests for comment.