Bistline v. Parker
| Decision Date | 14 March 2019 |
| Docket Number | No. 17-4020,17-4020 |
| Citation | 918 F.3d 849 |
| Parties | Alyssa BISTLINE; Ruby Jessop; Susan Broadbent; Gina Rohbock; Nolan Barlow; Jason Black; May Musser; Holly Bistline; T.B.; M.B.; P.B.; A.B.; A.B.; Derrell Barlow; Alicia Rohbock; R.R.; R.R.; B.J.R.; Wallace Jeffs; Lawrence Barlow ; Steven Dockstader; Marvin Cooke; Helen Barlow; Vergel Barlow; Carole Jessop; Briell Libertae Decker; Lynette Warner; Amy Nielson; Sarah Allred; Thomas Jeffs; Janetta Jessop, Plaintiffs - Appellants, v. Rodney R. PARKER ; Snow Christensen & Martineau, P.C., Defendants - Appellees, and Warren Steed Jeffs, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
i. Attorney-Client relationship...864
a. Subjective beliefs of representation ...865
b. Reasonableness of beliefs under the circumstances ...867
i. The means used to force labor or services...871
ii. Specific plaintiffs’ labor or services...872
iii. Venture liability...873
i. Fraudulent misrepresentation...877
ii. Negligent misrepresentation...878
iii. Malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty, and civil conspiracy...878
iv. TVPRA...878
i. The age of majority...878
ii. Continuing tort doctrine...879
i. Statutory tolling...880
ii. Equitable tolling – fraudulent concealment...884
a. Concealment ...884
b. Reasonableness ...885
Plaintiffs are all former members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints ("FLDS"), which illegally practices polygamy. On July 13, 2016, plaintiffs brought this action against the FLDS Prophet, Warren Jeffs ("Mr. Jeffs"), and Mr. Jeff’s lawyers, the law firm of Snow Christensen & Martineau ("SC & M") and one of its partners, Rodney Parker.
Plaintiffs allege that defendants: (1) directly worked with Mr. Jeffs to create a legal framework that would shield him from the legal ramifications of child rape, forced labor, extortion, and the causing of emotional distress by separating families; (2) created an illusion of legality to bring about plaintiffs’ submission to these abuses and employed various legal instruments and judicial processes to knowingly facilitate the abuse; (3) held themselves out to be the lawyers of each FLDS member individually, thus creating a duty to them to disclose this illegal scheme; and (4) intentionally misused these attorney-client relationships to enable Mr. Jeffs’ dominion and criminal enterprise. Mr. Jeffs defaulted, and the district court dismissed every cause of action against the remaining defendants under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). The issue on appeal is the district court’s dismissal of all claims against SC & M and Mr. Parker (collectively "defendants"). Reviewing the facts in the light most favorable to plaintiffs, as we must, see SEC v. Shields , 744 F.3d 633, 640 (10th Cir. 2014), we affirm in part and reverse in part.
Plaintiffs allege that the legal framework defendants created to facilitate Mr. Jeffs’ crimes took shape through the 1998 amendment and reinstatement of the United Effort Plan Trust ("Reinstated Trust"). The original UEP Trust ("Trust") was created in 1942 by the predecessors of the FLDS. Snow, Christensen & Martineau v. Lindberg , 299 P.3d 1058, 1061 (Utah 2013). It was founded upon the tenets of the FLDS faith, and membership was established through consecrating real and personal property to the Trust (which would then be redistributed to each family according to its "just wants and needs"). Town of Colo. City v. United Effort Trust Plan , 2013 WL 1932838 at *2 (D. Ariz. May 8, 2013). The original Trust’s stated purpose was primarily "charitable and philanthropic." Lindberg , 299 P.3d at 1061. However, on September 1, 1998, the Utah Supreme Court ruled that the Trust was not charitable because it benefitted specific individuals. Jeffs v. Stubbs , 970 P.2d 1234, 1252–53 (Utah 1998). In response to this decision, the Reinstated Trust was executed on November 3, 1998.1 In the Matter of the UEP Trust , No. 053900848 (Utah Dist. Ct. Dec. 13, 2005).
The Reinstated Trust was theoretically amended and reinstated by Rulon Jeffs, the sole surviving beneficiary of the UEP Trust, who was Warren Jeffs’ father and predecessor as Prophet of the FLDS. See Lindberg , 299 P.3d at 1062 ; Aplt. App. at 27–28. However, plaintiffs allege a different mechanism laboring beneath this superficial reality. By 1997, Rulon Jeffs was growing old, in ill health, becoming progressively less aware of his surroundings, and demonstrating increasing loss of memory and cognitive function. Aplt. App. at 27. The complaint asserts that under Rulon Jeffs’ leadership the FLDS had not practiced the atrocities defining plaintiffs’ claims.
[T]he concept of celestial or spiritual "marriage" of children was not yet broadly practiced within the FLDS Church, at least to the extent of large-scale sexual domination of children and the use of the badges of religious ceremony to formalize the criminal sexual abuse of minors under the guise of "religious" practices. Up to that point, FLDS Church marriage practices were largely if not exclusively confined to adults, and while the polygamy laws of Utah were violated by the practice of plural marriage, underage marriage and outright child rape was not common within the FLDS Church; neither were extortion, kidnapping, forced labor or, most importantly for the purposes of this averment, the use of lawyers to create a basis of community-wide misplaced belief in the legality of what is actually fundamentally illegal conduct harming large numbers of persons.
Id . at 28. But in Rulon Jeffs’ declining years, his son Warren "began to assume the mantle of authority and control." Id . at 27. In early August 1998, Rulon Jeffs suffered a massive stroke that "left him largely impaired and paved the way for [Warren] Jeffs to eventually assume complete and absolute control of the FLDS." Id . at 28. Although the Reinstated Trust was nominally executed by Rulon Jeffs, "[his] signature on the Trust instrument ... was placed with physical assistance and guidance of others holding [his] pen hand, at the direction of [Warren Jeffs]." Id . at 32–33.
Id . at 111–12. Warren Jeffs had thus become acting president of the church. See M.J. v. Wisan , 371 P.3d at 24 (). He retained this role until his father’s death in 2002, when he formally took over the titles of both Prophet and President of the Reinstated Trust. Aplt. App. at 112.
This absolute control allegedly enabled Mr. Jeffs to subject FLDS members to physical torture, extortion, severe and extreme emotional distress, unlawful imprisonment, kidnapping, and "other extreme and atrocious inhumane punishments in order to secure their utter and complete obedience." Id . at 32. Defendants benefited from creating this scheme because rewriting the Trust would give them "peace of mind that their fees would be paid." Id . at 111 ().
The Reinstated Trust served religious purposes, as the Utah Supreme Court described:
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Ruelas v. Cnty. of Alameda
...Court finds that Plaintiffs have also sufficiently alleged that Aramark is a venture offender under the TVPA. See Bistline v. Parker , 918 F.3d 849, 871 (10th Cir. 2019).Aramark argues that Plaintiffs cannot state a claim for venture liability under the TVPA because Section 1589(b) requires......
-
United States ex rel. Fadlalla v. Dyncorp Int'l LLC
...financially or by receiving anything of value, from participation in a venture which has engaged in’ forced labor." Bistline v. Parker , 918 F.3d 849, 873 (10th Cir. 2019) (quoting 18 U.S.C. § 1589(b) ). Although "venture" is not defined in that provision, the TVPRA uses the term elsewhere ......
-
Bucco v. W. Iowa Tech Cmty. Coll.
...in fact, whether or not a legal entity." Some courts have applied that definition for purposes of § 1589. See Bistline v. Parker , 918 F.3d 849, 874-74 (10th Cir. 2019) (citing Ricchio v. McLean , 853 F.3d 553, 555 (1st Cir. 2017) ).5 Plaintiffs state that Jacqueline De Britto Bucco also wo......
-
Quintana v. Santa Fe Cnty. Bd. of Comm'rs, No. 19-2039
...See pp. 1037, above. Doing so, we can reasonably infer that Officer Chavez's report had reached Officer Valdo. See Bistline v. Parker , 918 F.3d 849, 888 n.20 (10th Cir. 2019) (applying the plausibility standard and making a "reasonable assumption" based on facts from a complaint); see also......
-
SUFFERING AT THE MARGINS: APPLYING DISABILITY CRITICAL RACE STUDIES TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN THE UNITED STATES.
...McLean, 853 F.3d 553 (1st Cir. 2017) (finding that a person can be trafficked for sexual labor or services). See also Bistline v. Parker, 918 F.3d 849. 872 (10th Cir. 2019) (quoting Ricchio v. McLean, 853 F.3d 553, 556 (1st Cir. 2017), citing United States v. Kaufman, 546 F.3d 1242, 1261-63......