The Mormon Church is defending on appeal what a federal trial court decided in James Huntsman v Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"There was no fraud," attorneys for the Church wrote in their reply appellate brief. "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did not make any false statements regarding the use of donations. The Church did exactly what it said it would do: it funded the City Creek project with returns on invested funds and with property and funds from commercial entities it owned."
Oral arguments are scheduled for the fall before a panel of three Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal judges in Pasadena.
“Because we won in the district trial court, the arguments that we're making on appeal are largely just the same arguments,” said Rick Richmond, a Los Angeles-based attorney representing the Church. “We thought the district court got it right.”
U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson of the Central District of California granted the Church’s motion for summary judgment and Huntsman subsequently appealed.
“Huntsman paid tithing for a long period of time because he believed it was a commandment of God and that he would be blessed for doing that,” Richmond told the Southern California Record. “That's why he started paying and kept paying. He only quit paying when he quit believing in the doctrines of the church.”
Huntsman, the brother of a wealthy businessman and former Utah governor Jon Huntsman Jr., filed the complaint last year seeking a refund of some $5 million he had tithed along with interest and penalties. He alleged that parishioner tithes were spent on commercial real estate projects instead of on missionary work, temple construction, and charitable projects.
At the core of the litigation is the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits interference with the free exercise of religion.
“In this case, how the church defines tithing and how the church decides to spend tithing is an Ecclesiastical matter,” Richmond said. “Courts can't get involved and try to decide ‘Is this tithing or is it not tithing?’ The court is not in a position to decide that. The church gets to decide that.”
Among Huntsman's allegations is that the Church’s use of earnings on invested tithing funds to develop the City Creek Mall in Salt Lake City, Utah is fraudulent.
“There were reserves that were being built up for what President Hinkley described in General Conference as a rainy day fund. That reserve built up interest on the earnings, so there were enough interest earnings to pay for the money part of City Creek Mall,” Richmond said. “President Hinkley made no fraudulent statement about it.”
General Conference is a church-wide gathering in which leaders of the Latter-day Saints address members.
Hinkley was the 15th president of the church from March 1995 until his death in January 2008.
The current church president is Russell M. Nelson, a retired cardiologist.
“The standard on summary judgment for a judge to end a case is that no reasonable juror could conclude looking at this evidence that what President Hinkley said was false,” Richmond added.