The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a defendant in a broad wave of active litigation, most of it involving child sexual abuse. The LDS Church lawsuit landscape as of mid-2026 includes more than 4,200 documented reports of sex abuse involving church members, over 400 alleged failures by church officials to report abuse, and 266 active criminal and civil cases tracked by FLOODLIT.org, alongside a separate insurance coverage appeal at the Tenth Circuit, a $5 million SEC settlement, and a new trademark suit filed by the church itself.1FLOODLIT.org. FLOODLIT Home Page
The Helpline at the Center of the Abuse Cases
Most of the abuse suits circle back to the same institution: the church’s abuse helpline, a phone service set up in 1995 for bishops and branch presidents who learn of suspected child abuse. The church describes it as a 24/7 resource that connects roughly 31,000 local leaders with attorneys and licensed social workers who advise on victim care and local reporting laws.2Deseret News. Protect Children Abuse Church Help Line Clergy Privilege3The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Preventing and Responding to Abuse
Plaintiffs describe it differently. According to sealed records obtained by the Associated Press, calls are routed to social workers who refer serious matters to lawyers at Kirton McConkie, the church’s primary outside counsel in Salt Lake City. Internal protocols reportedly told staff they “should never advise a priesthood leader to report abuse” and that such counsel “should come only from legal counsel.”4Claims Journal. Mormon Church Help Line Abuse Investigation Church officials have testified that no records of these calls are kept, and separately that internal abuse records are destroyed at the end of each day.5PBS NewsHour. Recordings Show How Mormon Church Kept Child Sex Abuse Claims Secret
The defense in most of these cases rests on clergy-penitent privilege, a doctrine that in 33 states exempts clergy from mandatory child-abuse reporting when the information came out during a confession or confidential spiritual communication.6Spectrum News. 33 States Exempt Clergy From Reporting Abuse Randy Austin, the church’s lead outside counsel, has said the privilege protects children because it encourages both offenders and victims to disclose in a setting of trust, and that “we learn about more abuse in places where the privilege exists than where it doesn’t.”2Deseret News. Protect Children Abuse Church Help Line Clergy Privilege The church’s position in individual cases is that abusers act in an “individual capacity and NOT as an agent of the Church.”5PBS NewsHour. Recordings Show How Mormon Church Kept Child Sex Abuse Claims Secret
The Paul Adams Case in Arizona
The suit that has done the most to shape public understanding of the helpline arose in Bisbee, Arizona. Paul Douglas Adams, a U.S. Border Patrol employee, sexually assaulted his two daughters over several years, recorded the abuse, and posted it online. Two local bishops, John Herrod and Robert “Kim” Mauzy, each learned of the abuse and called the helpline. Merrill Nelson, a Kirton McConkie attorney who was also serving as a Republican member of the Utah House of Representatives, advised Bishop Herrod not to report Adams, citing clergy-penitent privilege.7KUER. Rep. Merrill Nelson and Utah Law Firm Accused of Helping Hide Mormon Help Line Abuse The abuse continued until Homeland Security arrested Adams in 2017. He died by suicide in jail. His wife, Leizza Adams, pleaded no contest to child abuse and served two and a half years.8Fox 13. 4 Takeaways From APs Mormon Church Sex Abuse Investigation
Three of the Adams children sued the church in 2021. Cochise County Superior Court Judge Timothy Dickerson dismissed the case in November 2023, ruling that the bishops had no duty to report because the initial disclosure came during a protected spiritual confession under Arizona law.9KUER. Arizona Court Dismisses Child Sex Abuse Suit Against the LDS Church On July 29, 2025, an Arizona appeals court reversed, finding a jury could reasonably conclude the church and its bishops knew of the abuse outside of protected confessional communications. The case was returned for trial, and the church announced it would seek review by the Arizona Supreme Court.10Arizona Capitol Times. Appeals Court Overrules LDS Church Position, Jury Needs to Hear Details of Child Abuse
The plaintiffs also sought to add Nelson and Kirton McConkie as defendants, alleging a conspiracy to cover up the abuse. Nelson, who retired from the legislature in 2022, defended the helpline, saying “it seems to me like it did operate as intended.” Bar complaints previously filed against an LDS Church lawyer over abuse-reporting advice were dismissed by Utah and Arizona regulators in 2019.11Salt Lake Tribune. Utah Law Firm, Lawmaker Helped Hide Abuse
The West Virginia Settlement and the Insurance Appeal
The largest publicly known payout in LDS abuse litigation grew out of a West Virginia case against Christopher Michael Jensen, a church member convicted in 2013 of abusing multiple children he babysat and sentenced to 35 to 75 years in prison. Plaintiffs alleged that church officials had known Jensen posed a risk to children as early as 2004, that members recommended him as a babysitter, and that some helped place him with families that had young children.12The Legal Link. LDS Church Sexual Abuse Lawsuit
The church settled in 2018 for $32 million. Combined with legal defense costs of more than $27 million, the total approached $60 million. The settlement stayed out of public view until FLOODLIT.org reported it in March 2025.13FLOODLIT.org. Church Appeals Insurance
The church then sued its insurers, National Union Fire Insurance Company and ACE Property and Casualty Company, seeking reimbursement. It argued that because there was one perpetrator, the abuse counted as a single “occurrence” under its policies, putting it above a $15 million combined deductible. The insurers argued each child’s injuries were a separate occurrence and that the church had failed to give required written notice of the lawsuit for more than four years.14Courthouse News Service. Mormon Church Battles Insurers Over Sex Abuse Settlement Coverage at 10th Circuit In April 2025, U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell ruled against the church, finding the insurers had no duty to defend or indemnify.15ABC4. LDS Church Appeals Lawsuit The church appealed to the Tenth Circuit, which heard oral arguments in May 2026.
Other Major Abuse Cases
A California suit in Riverside County Superior Court produced the largest reported verdict connected to the church. A woman identified as Jane Doe sued her stepfather, her mother, and the local church, alleging abuse from age 5 to 14 and claiming church officials used intimidation and shaming tactics to silence her. The church settled its portion for $1 million in December 2022 while denying wrongdoing. The mother settled for $200,000. A jury then awarded $2.28 billion against the stepfather, who did not appear at trial and, as a previously convicted sex offender, is considered unlikely to pay.16KUER. $2.3B Awarded in California Sex Abuse Lawsuit That Named the LDS Church17Los Angeles Times. Riverside Woman to Receive $2.3 Billion in Sex Abuse Lawsuit
In July 2024, a plaintiff filed suit in Alameda County Superior Court alleging that Craig Allen Harward, a former bishop’s secretary, raped and sexually abused her in 2000 and 2001, when she was 12 and 13. The complaint alleges other church leaders knew and failed to stop the abuse or report it. Harward pleaded guilty in 2004 to abusing four children and was sentenced to 14 years.18Singleton Schreiber. Jane Doe Files Lawsuit Against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Reporting in April 2025 indicated the church was nearing a settlement covering more than 100 additional sexual abuse claims.1FLOODLIT.org. FLOODLIT Home Page
Boy Scouts Bankruptcy Exposure
The church’s largest institutional exposure outside its own congregations came through the Boy Scouts of America. The church was the BSA’s largest troop sponsor for decades before ending the partnership. After the BSA filed for bankruptcy in February 2020 facing more than 80,000 abuse claims, the church offered $250 million to the settlement fund in exchange for a release from all related claims.19PBS NewsHour. Insurer Agrees to $800 Million Settlement in Boy Scouts Bankruptcy
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein rejected that deal on July 29, 2022, ruling that it swept in claims only loosely tied to scouting, including abuse in local church wards rather than at scouting events.20Reuters. Boy Scouts Walk Back $250 Mln Abuse Settlement With Mormon Church About 2,300 claimants in the BSA bankruptcy identified the church as the organization that chartered their unit, and estimates put the actual number of LDS-related claims between 7,500 and 10,000.1FLOODLIT.org. FLOODLIT Home Page
Why Clergy Reporting Laws Matter to These Cases
The outcome of many of these suits hinges on state clergy-reporting laws. Legislators in the 33 exemption states have introduced more than 130 bills over the past two decades attempting to narrow or repeal the exemption. Most have failed, often after opposition from the LDS Church, the Catholic Church, and Jehovah’s Witnesses.6Spectrum News. 33 States Exempt Clergy From Reporting Abuse
In Utah, a 2020 bill by Rep. Angela Romero to eliminate the exemption failed to get a committee hearing after opposition from Catholic and Mormon churches. The legislature took a smaller step in 2024, unanimously passing HB 432, which lets clergy report abuse learned during a confession without legal liability but does not require them to do so, leaving the underlying exemption in place.21KUER. Utah Legislature Expands Ability of Clergy Members to Report Child Abuse
Washington went further, signing SB 5375 in May 2025 to make clergy mandatory reporters for child sexual abuse. Catholic and Orthodox clergy challenged the law, and in October 2025 a federal court approved an agreement keeping clergy as mandatory reporters but exempting information learned during a confidential rite or confession.22The Conversation. Washington State Settles Controversy Over Child Abuse Law
The SEC Settlement Over Ensign Peak
In February 2023, the church and its investment arm, Ensign Peak Advisors, settled charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission over a scheme to obscure the size of the church’s investment portfolio. From 1997 through 2019, Ensign Peak created 13 shell companies to file required disclosure forms in their names rather than its own, hiding a portfolio that had grown to roughly $32 billion by 2018. The church paid a $1 million penalty and Ensign Peak paid $4 million, for a combined $5 million. Neither party admitted or denied the findings.23U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. SEC Charges Ensign Peak Advisers and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
The Mormon Stories Trademark Suit
In April 2026, the church filed a trademark and copyright infringement lawsuit against John Dehlin and his “Mormon Stories” podcast. The complaint alleges that the podcast’s use of “Mormon” in its name and elements of church branding in its logo create confusion about affiliation, and that Dehlin continued using copyrighted images of church temples despite assurances he would stop. Dehlin, excommunicated in 2015, calls the case an effort to silence criticism and says the podcast has updated its logo, removed church images, and added disclaimers. The church says the case is strictly about branding.24Axios. Mormon Stories Church Trademark Lawsuit25KUTV. Mormon Stories Podcast Sued by Church for Trademark Copyright Infringement The litigation is ongoing as of mid-2026.