Church

Oklahoma Court Favors Church in Syrian Torture Lawsuit

A man from Syria who says he was tortured in his home country after converting to Christianity has no legal recourse against an Oklahoma church that published his name and baptism online, the state’s highest court ruled on Wednesday. The former Muslim, identified in the lawsuit only as “John Doe,” says that after his baptism in 2012 at the First Presbyterian Church in downtown Tulsa he returned …


Jehovah’s Witness Sexual-Abuse-Coverup Lawsuit Settled

A settlement agreement has been reached, but neither the victim nor the church she said failed to report her sexual abuse to the authorities can talk about it. On the fifth day of trial Monday in Philadelphia County Court, Stephanie Fessler, of Lancaster, settled the suit she filed against the Jehovah’s Witness Church in Spring Grove. “The matter with the Jehovah’s Witnesses has …


Top Missouri Senator Seeks Overhaul of Consumer Law

Missouri’s Republican Senate leader is proposing a sweeping overhaul of a state consumer-protection law that’s being used in a class-action lawsuit against the company of one of his largest donors. Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard told reporters Thursday that close to $300,000 in campaign donations he’s received since 2011 from the wealthy Humphreys family didn’t …


Another Lawsuit Filed Against LDS Church Alleging Sex Abuse in Navajo Program

Another lawsuit has been filed against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints alleging sexual abuse while in a church-run program for Navajo children. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Navajo Nation District Court in New Mexico, accuses the LDS Church of not doing anything about the abuse in the church’s “Lamanite Placement Program,” also known as the “Indian Placement …


Providence Health Agrees to Settle Pension Lawsuit

A Renton-based health care system has agreed to pay $351.9 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over its employee pension plan. The Seattle Times reports that two nurses with Providence Health & Services filed a lawsuit against their employer in 2014 arguing that the health care group failed to fully fund their workers’ retirement plan.


Federal Lawsuit Filed Over Church Street South Housing Complex

A federal lawsuit has been filed against Northland Investment Corporation over claims of “demolition by neglect” at the Church Street South housing complex in New Haven. The lawsuit claims the company did not properly maintain the building, forcing families to move to motels last year. Units in the Section 8 complex were condemned because of mold and water and had to …


Judge Rules Church Lawsuit Can Move Forward

A church’s lawsuit in Iowa that gained national attention has benefitted from a federal judge’s preliminary ruling. U.S. District Court Judge Stephanie Rose on Oct. 14 denied a request from Iowa state officials to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Fort Des Moines Church of Christ.That means the case will progress to trial. A similar lawsuit is moving forward in Massachusetts, where four church …


New Lawsuit Again Accuses FLDS Marshals of Bias

Two Short Creek area residents arrested last year in a dispute over access to what was once a city zoo filed a federal lawsuit in Arizona this week, claiming their “illegal” arrests constituted yet another example of alleged discrimination by Colorado City marshals against residents who aren’t members of the community’s dominant polygamous church. Andrew Guy Chatwin, 48, of Hildale and Patrick Leroy Pipkin, 33, of Colorado City claim the marshals, Colorado City and its municipal attorney Kenneth Brendel, the city of Hildale and the corporate charter of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints conspired to prevent the men from using property they were legally entitled to amid a dispute with a “squatter” who …



New Lawsuit Claims More Discrimination by Colorado City Police

Utah seized control of the trust in 2005, but church loyalists have mostly refused to comply with court orders concerning land-use issues. According to the lawsuit, Pipkin and Cooke secured a lease from the court-appointed trust managers for commercial development on the zoo property and had legal rights to access the grounds. But in October 2015, Pipkin and Chatwin found the zoo had been …