LDS Church Lawsuit: Where Every Case Stands in October 2026
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There is no single LDS church lawsuit — there are several, and none of them pays church members anything. The last tithing class action was dismissed on appeal on August 31, 2026. Child sexual abuse suits are handled one by one, mostly in California, and many are covered by a confidential settlement in principle reached in 2025. The church is also suing a podcast over the word “Mormon.” There is no fund, no claim form and no deadline for members.
Editorially Reviewed — Content reviewed for accuracy using published legal research, government data, and verified court records. See our methodology
Reviewed by Leonard Goldberg, Editor · Last updated
What the Lawsuits Are About
Three separate kinds of cases drive searches for a lawsuit against LDS Church leadership right now.
Tithing. Former members alleged the church told them donations would go to church purposes while its investment arm, Ensign Peak Advisors, built a reserve and spent $1.4 billion in donated funds on the City Creek Mall between 2010 and 2014, according to the appeals court's summary of the complaint. The claims followed a December 2019 whistleblower report. Every federal tithing case has now been dismissed.
Child sexual abuse. Survivors allege they were abused by people connected to the church and that leaders knew or should have known and did not act. These are individual personal-injury suits, not a class action.
Trademark. In April 2026 the church and its intellectual-property arm, Intellectual Reserve, sued the “Mormon Stories” podcast and its nonprofit, alleging trademark infringement. That case is about branding, not about members.
Case Details
Tithing class action: In re: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Tithing Litigation, MDL No. 3102, No. 2:24-md-03102 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, Chief Judge Robert J. Shelby. It began as Chappell v. Corporation of the President, No. 2:23-cv-00794, filed October 31, 2023. Judge Shelby dismissed it with prejudice in April 2025; the Tenth Circuit affirmed on August 31, 2026 (No. 25-4068, Judges Hartz, Phillips and Moritz).
Earlier tithing cases: Gaddy v. Corporation of the President, No. 2:19-cv-00554 (D. Utah), affirmed for the church by the Tenth Circuit on August 26, 2025 (No. 23-4110); the U.S. Supreme Court denied review on March 2, 2026 (No. 25-911). Huntsman v. Corporation of the President was dismissed by the Ninth Circuit in January 2025.
Abuse cases: On April 3, 2025 the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation refused to combine 41 federal abuse actions in nine districts (MDL No. 3150), so each proceeds in its own court. In Arizona, the state Supreme Court ruled unanimously on July 30, 2026 that courts generally may not second-guess a bishop's application of doctrine in deciding not to report a confession, absent fraud or collusion for secular purposes, and sent that case back to the lower courts.
Trademark: Intellectual Reserve, Inc. v. Open Stories Foundation, No. 2:26-cv-00321 (D. Utah), also before Judge Shelby.
Status: No Class Settlement, No Claim Form
Tithing: lost at every level. The consolidated LDS tithing class action lawsuit ended in the church's favor at the Tenth Circuit on August 31, 2026; we found no report of a Supreme Court petition as of October 8, 2026. No class was ever certified, so no donor was bound or paid.
Abuse: active, case by case. By May 2025 lawyers had told California courts the church had reached a “settlement in principle” resolving over one hundred claims at an April 10 mediation; the terms were not disclosed. That money goes to the individual plaintiffs, not to members at large.
Trademark: the podcast's motion to dismiss, filed June 22, 2026, is fully briefed. According to the defendants' own case page, a hearing is set for November 24, 2026.
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There's no claim deadline yet. We'll email you if a settlement opens a claim period.
Who Is Affected
Donors and tithe payers: there is nothing to join. The tithing suits were proposed class actions that were dismissed before any class was certified. Paying tithing does not make you part of a pending case, and no notice will arrive.
Abuse survivors: these claims belong to each survivor individually. Whether you can still file depends on your state's time limits, which several states have opened or extended for childhood abuse — see our sexual abuse lawsuit deadlines by state. If you need support now, RAINN runs the National Sexual Assault Hotline, and anyone in crisis can call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, free and confidential, 24/7.
LDS church data breach: in March 2022 an intruder accessed personal data of some members, employees and contractors; the church disclosed it in October 2022 and notified people by email. It said banking and donation history were not included. We found no class action or settlement over it.
Is There Any Money?
The only money that has changed hands in these matters went elsewhere. On February 21, 2023 the SEC fined Ensign Peak $4 million and the church $1 million for hiding its stock portfolio, which reached approximately $32 billion by 2018, behind thirteen shell companies from 1997 through 2019. Those penalties went to the government. The California abuse settlement amounts are confidential and paid to individual survivors through their own cases.
How cases like this one end
Our copy of the federal courts’ own case database covers 24,037 other fraud casesclosed in U.S. federal district courts between 2015 and 2025, 27.4% of them filed as class actions:
- 17.3% ended in a settlement recorded by the court. Another 22.5% were dismissed voluntarily, which often follows a private settlement — so the real settlement share sits between 17.3% and 39.8%.
- 10.4% were decided on a motion before any trial.
- 1 in 111 reached a trial (0.9%), after a median of 30 months.
- Median time from filing to the end of the case: 7 months.
- Only 735 of them (3.1%) record a money award at all; the median of those is $663,000.
These are base rates for this type of case (federal other fraud cases) — not a prediction about this lawsuit, and not legal advice. Source: Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (civil), analysed by Settlement Insight. Cases heard in state courts are not included.
LDS Church Lawsuit Timeline
- 1
February 21, 2023 — SEC Penalties
Ensign Peak pays a $4 million penalty and the church $1 million over shell-company filings that obscured its portfolio. No money goes to members.
- 2
October 31, 2023 — Tithing Class Action Filed
Former members sue in federal court in Utah. Similar suits follow, and in April 2024 they are combined as MDL No. 3102 before Judge Shelby.
- 3
April 2025 — Abuse MDL Refused, Tithing Case Dismissed
On April 3 the JPML declines to combine 41 abuse actions. On April 10 a mediation yields a settlement in principle of over one hundred California claims. Judge Shelby dismisses the tithing MDL with prejudice.
- 4
March 2, 2026 — Supreme Court Denies Gaddy
The Supreme Court declines to hear the earlier Gaddy tithing-and-history fraud case (No. 25-911), leaving the Tenth Circuit's ruling for the church in place.
- 5
July 30, 2026 — Arizona Confession Ruling
The Arizona Supreme Court unanimously rules that courts cannot second-guess clergy's doctrinal choice not to report an abuse confession, and returns the case to the lower courts.
- 6
August 31, 2026 — Last Tithing Appeal Lost
The Tenth Circuit affirms dismissal of the consolidated tithing class action as time-barred. No class settlement, fund or claim form exists.
Three Things to Watch For
With headlines about tithing refunds and abuse settlements, a few traps are specific to this case:
“Claim your tithing refund” offers
No tithing refund exists. Every tithing class action has been dismissed and no class was certified. A site asking for donation records, bank details or a fee to “recover your tithing” is not connected to any court.
Emails about the 2022 church data breach
The breach involved personal data of members, employees and contractors, which makes convincing phishing easier. There is no breach settlement, so a message offering one and asking you to log in or confirm details is fake.
“Join the LDS abuse settlement” ads
The California settlement in principle was described in joint court filings by the parties as a proposed global resolution of over one hundred claims; its terms were not disclosed, and no public sign-up has been announced. Abuse claims are individual. Read any retainer carefully before signing — it is a contract, not a registration form.
LDS Church Lawsuit — Questions People Actually Ask
Is there an LDS church lawsuit I can join?
No. As of October 8, 2026 there is no open class action against the church that members or donors can join, and no claim form. Abuse claims are filed individually by survivors.
What happened to the LDS tithing class action lawsuit?
It was dismissed with prejudice in April 2025 because the claims were filed too late, and the Tenth Circuit affirmed on August 31, 2026. The court did not decide whether the church misused donations; it ruled on the statute of limitations.
Will tithing ever be refunded?
Not through these cases. Huntsman, Gaddy and the consolidated MDL all ended in the church's favor, and the Supreme Court declined to hear Gaddy on March 2, 2026.
Was there an LDS church settlement for abuse victims?
By May 2025 the church and plaintiffs had told California courts they had reached a settlement in principle covering over one hundred abuse claims. The terms were not disclosed. It applies only to those plaintiffs, not to the public.
Why weren't the abuse cases combined into one case?
On April 3, 2025 the JPML refused, finding the 41 actions too different — different abusers, church officials, places and decades — for shared pretrial proceedings. Each case continues in its own court.
What did the Arizona Supreme Court decide?
On July 30, 2026 it ruled unanimously that courts generally cannot examine how a clergy member applied religious doctrine when deciding not to report a confession. The case went back to the lower courts; the ruling is not a payout.
Was there a lawsuit over the LDS church data breach?
We found none. The church disclosed in October 2022 that an intruder accessed some member and employee data in March 2022, excluding banking and donation history. No settlement exists.
What is the Mormon Stories lawsuit?
A trademark case the church filed in April 2026 against the podcast and its nonprofit, No. 2:26-cv-00321 in Utah. The podcast moved to dismiss. It involves no payments to members.
Separate from this case: were you injured in the last 2 years?
Class-action payouts are fixed amounts through an administrator. A personal injury claim is a different case — and often worth far more. Free estimate, no obligation.
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