Laura A. Gaddy, et al. v. The Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Salt Lake City, Utah personal Injury lawyer represented the Plaintiffs on RICO theory.



Plaintiffs Laura Gaddy, Lyle D. Small, and Leanne R. Harris are each former members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They filed a putative class action lawsuit against the Church's religious corporation,

Defendant Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.1 As relevant to this appeal, Plaintiffs asserted a claim pursuant to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ("RICO”), 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961–1968, under two distinct theories. First, Plaintiffs base their RICO claim on the Church's alleged fraudulent misrepresentations about its history that its leaders allegedly do not sincerely believe. Second, Plaintiffs base their RICO claim on the Church's alleged fraudulent use of tithing payments. Below, the district court granted the Church's Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss Plaintiffs' second amended complaint based in part on the church autonomy doctrine and in part on a failure to sufficiently state the indictable acts underlying the civil RICO claim.

Affirmed