Posted on 06/13/2008 9:31:37 PM PDT by Saundra Duffy
Lawyers for the Fundamentalist LDS Church are preparing for what could become a series of lawsuits against Texas authorities for the raid on the YFZ Ranch.
"There is a desire and a need for compensation, so I think you will see something come," said Rod Parker, a Salt Lake attorney who is acting as a spokesman for the FLDS people.
The lawsuits would likely focus on the removal of the children, the raid itself and damage to the FLDS Church's first-ever temple on the Eldorado property.
The FLDS people deserve to be compensated for pain and suffering they endured.
A Dallas attorney who represented a number of young women whom Texas alleged were minors — but were really adults — told the Deseret News she is still considering a lawsuit on their behalf, alleging civil rights violations.
“We’re still in the research and drafting process,” Laura Shockley said Thursday.
Collecting on any possible court victory may not be easy. Texas has immunity laws protecting itself against certain types of civil litigation, but government officials could be named individually. There is also a cap on the amount of damages that could be collected.
“It depends on if they sue in state court or federal,” Shockley said. “If they sue in state court, there’s all kinds of immunity. There may be some immunity issues in federal court. We’re all researching that issue.”
The Deseret News first reported in April that letters had been sent out, putting Texas authorities on notice to preserve any and all communications and documentation, should it become evidence in civil litigation. A series of follow-up letters were recently sent out, Parker said.
“There are a lot of different ways to pursue this and look at it,” he said. “We want to be smart about it and not be reckless.”
Nehemiah Scudder is going to be sorry he ever messed with those people...
No-o-o-o! Not really!
Is this even worth Captain Obvious' time?
Gee, that sounds a lot like “The sun MAY rise in the east tomorrow”.
That is funny. On so many different levels : )
They most certainly do. Despite the immunity laws protecting the responsible authorities, there is hopefully, a way for the victims to receive just compensation.
Heinlein is rolling around in his grave.
I hope they add and name Bill O’Reilly and Nancy Grace to the list. I’d love to see tham both Pwned by the FLDS.
I think there should be some lawsuits, although there is the risk of a possible prosecution for welfare fraud if the evidence is there.
I suspect there will be some sort of settlement that results in mutual waivers of all claims or agreement to not prosecute possible crimes.
“We want to be smart about it and not be reckless.”
Yeah, opening up the state’s right to discovery might be a little bit of a sticky wicket. Glass houses/stones.
The Heterosexual branch of NAMBLA deserve to be run out of Texas.
Bunch of institutionalized perverts and pedophiles asking for sympathy.
I said, these guys are chomping at the bit to go to court. Seems they are.
Further proof that mormons are not Christians...
There is a risk of YOU being prosecuted for welfare fraud if the evidence is there.
As they should sue, because I am sure there was a financial impact to running around the state visiting the captives. I am sure there will be a lot of lawsuits.
Sure, as we all know Christians don’t go to court...don’t sue... sure.
LOL. I just said good grief in my mind.
I’m not sure of the point of your reply to me. I am certainly not a supporter of this cult.
Your statement that the FLDS could be charged with welfare fraud if evidence exists is a true statement.
I simply posted another true statement. I don't actually have any evidence that you have committed welfare fraud. Do you have any evidence that the FLDS in Texas has committed welfare fraud?
No kidding?
What a shocker.
As I read through the posts, I missed the point of that "true statement".
SeaHawkFan clearly qualified the possible prosecution of welfare fraud with "...if the evidence is there".
And I clearly qualified my statement in exactly the same manner. Is there a problem here?
My point is the same as SeaHawkFan's point.
I'm not wading into that one.
One thing the outcome of all these lawsuits will be is to prove without a doubt is that CPS didn't follow the law.
If not, they choose to be "blind" to their beliefs. In their minds, every person who has found their way out of this cult, and described their life within it, is a liar.
That the Texas CPA may have/did misjudge the ages of some of the people removed from the ranch, including the children, MAY be understandable, as, was published, many, if not all, lied about their ages.
This polygamous cult (religion, if you choose) has gotten away with polygamy (against U.S. law) and the forced marriages of young girls to men old enough to be their fathers. Yes, I do believe that's true, and it is clearly repulsive.
It does not seem to be that repulsive to you, as you'd rather focus on due process and the opinions of the appeals court and the Texas supreme court.
I am left to believe that the welfare of the FLDS children is of secondary importance to you.
IF THE EVIDENCE IS THERE.
That is the ‘key’ to this case. And you can bet the attorneys will do their best and fight every piece of it, as they should. Warren Jeff’s lawyers are already trying to suppress this “NONEXISTENT” evidence.
What I find IRONIC about the trend of some posts is the insistence that because the State is taking it’s time to assemble all the evidence, and charge the ‘correct’ defendents, that one can conclude that means there is none.
One must ask, with all the ‘evidence’ that the FLDS Lawyers have, why have there been no arrests of Judges, Sheriff, Texas Rangers, CPS staff, Baptist Volunteers, MHRH Volunteers, nor any actual lawsuits filed?
“We’re still in the research and drafting process,” Laura Shockley said Thursday.
“There are a lot of different ways to pursue this and look at it,” he said. “We want to be smart about it and not be reckless.”
That is the basis that the Judge, the CPS, Texas Rangers,DPS, and the Sheriff, have all been sentenced guilty on.
“One thing the outcome of all these lawsuits will be is to prove without a doubt is that CPS didn’t follow the law. “
Oh, but they did follow the law.
“I’m not sure of the point of your reply to me.”
Well, it seemed pretty obvious to anyone reading it.
You made your original comment, and William Tell couldn’t find anything good to counter it with, so he tried to turn the ‘light’ on you, instead of the FLDS.
His hope is that because you haven’t committed fraud, and know there is no evidence, that somehow you must equate that with the FLDS case.
Even though in the FLDS case, there have been daily descriptions of 400 boxes of evidence, and a bunch of white dresses. Even though it was ‘known’ that the DNA was taken of the FLDS members, and the results of ALL of them may still not be complete.
“The FLDS people deserve to be compensated for pain and suffering they endured.”
Yes. They most certainly should.
I think that now that Warren Jeffs is out of the picture, that they should take the $100 million in the UEP Fund, and distribute it among the current FLDS members, any Lost Boys, and ex-members that Jeffs ‘excommunicated’ because they were in his way.
Let them rebuild their religion, without a megalomaniac sex offender at the helm.
Lawyers for FLDS may sue over raid
No kidding?
What a shocker.
I wonder if the FLDS members will file a ‘class action’ suit?
We'll see. I predict that when this is all over, even people like you will witness the courts finding otherwise.
“”When there is no longer an emergency, the department cannot justify continued custody by suggesting it must retain the discretion to make snap judgments,” according to the briefing filed this morning by ACLU attorneys.
“The issue here is not whether the department acted in good faith at the time of removal, but whether - 14 days later - it had satisfied criteria for continuing custody of the children.”
This is just a sliver of what is to come.
Maybe. But you are missing the point.
You said CPS broke the law.
I said they didn’t.
I posted the words of the ACLU where they admit the CPS was justified in taking the children in the first place, just not keeping them beyond 14 days.
When the TXSC made the ruling, the CPS cooperated, and followed the law, in returning them.
So, I flat out state you are wrong.
When the TXSC made the ruling, the CPS cooperated, and followed the law, in returning them.
So you admit they were breaking the law when they kept them beyond 14 days, and the court agreed with your assertion. What's your point?
“So you admit they were breaking the law when they kept them beyond 14 days, and the court agreed with your assertion. “
You wish.
The CPS was following the law, and the ruling of the Judge.
That ruling was overturned, and they followed the law on the new ruling.
You’re wrong on all counts.
I’m confident in my assertions, and willing to wait to see the headlines confirming the same.
“You’re wrong on all counts.”
However you provide nothing in the way of evidence to back it up.
“I’m confident in my assertions, and willing to wait to see the headlines confirming the same.”
As long as you admit they are assertions, instead of proven fact, I have no problem with you waiting.
There may even be some lawsuits stipulating what you suggest. Whether they have a chance of succeeding, is another question.
I understand the panic mode you Big Government folks are in, those of us who have said this is a reuslt of an out of control tyrannical agency have been proven correct as time passes.
You don’t have a prayer of stampeding me in joining the supporters of government child abuse.
“You don’t have a prayer of stampeding me in joining the supporters of government child abuse.”
What I keep saying is that you claim the CPS broke the law, and I state that they didn’t.
They were following the ruling of the Judge, so if you merely want to point fingers and assign blame, you should start there.
I would be curious to know how you determined that SeaHawkFan has not committed fraud and that there is no evidence of such.
It was good enough for CPS. The difference is that I'm not advocating and implementing kidnapping.
I would be curious to know why you would even imply that poster has committed a crime?
I wasn’t aware that CPS taking children under a court order was called ‘kidnapping’.
Must be some new law no one knows anything about.
“Despite the immunity laws protecting the responsible authorities, there is hopefully, a way for the victims to receive just compensation.”
I think the State should compensate the FLDS adults who drove and picked up their own children, for their mileage, gas, and lodgings.
However, I am not the state.
Keep reading the headlines.
I imagine you’ll be in denial, members of the Church of Big Government often are, but that description will appear in headlines.
I didn't. I simply suggested that he could be prosecuted if evidence exists; which is exactly what that poster suggested about the FLDS. Is there something inherently unfair about mentioning such a possibility in the absence of such evidence?
Please point me to the law that allows CPS to grab a 37-yo woman and take her into custody.
It seems I missed it.
It also seems that CPS did, indeed, break the law. Unless you can point to a law that authorized them to take that woman, or any of the other adults?
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