Court CPA for FLDS trust sues former child bride's family
 
The Associated Press
The Arizona Republic
 
SALT LAKE CITY - A court-appointed CPA has sued the family of Elissa Wall, saying they - not a polygamous church's trust - are responsible for her forced marriage at age 14.

Wall, the key witness in the 2007 criminal trial of Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints leader Warren Jeffs, filed a multimillion dollar personal injury lawsuit against the United Effort Plan Trust under the initial M.J. in 2005.

She claims the trust conspired by sanctioning her unwanted marriage and providing the home where she was forced into nonconsensual sex with her husband. She is seeking unspecified damages, including $1 million to establish a fund for those who want to leave the FLDS church.

Trust overseer Bruce Wisan disagrees.

Attorneys for Wisan filed a third-party complaint in the lawsuit, saying Walls' parents, sister and her former husband are the responsible parties.

Named in the lawsuit are Lloyd Wall and Sharon Wall, Elissa's parents; Rebecca Musser, her sister; and former husband Allen Steed, who was 19 when his marriage to Wall was arranged by church leaders in 2001. Also included are former trustees Truman I. Barlow, Leroy S. Jeffs, James Zitting, William E. Jessop and 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, attorneys said any damages that resulted from the marriage were "primarily and ultimately" caused by the failure of her family and the former trustees to act.

"UEP Trust contends that it is without fault, responsibility, or blame for any of the damages that plaintiff may have suffered," the complaint states.

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

Walls' sexual relationship with her husband between 2001 and 2004 was the basis for the charges filed against Jeffs in 2006 by prosecutors in Washington County, Utah.

During the trial Wall said her stepfather, mother and sister encouraged the marriage. She also said her mother and sister made her a wedding dress and helped prepare a honeymoon suite for the new couple.

Jeffs performed the marriage in a Caliente, Nev. motel and later counseled an unhappy Wall to try and make her marriage work.

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

Wall, now an adult, was granted an FLDS divorce and left the church in 2004.
 
azcentral.com
Originally published February 14, 2009
 
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