Jennifer Centers, the daughter of prominent Latter-day Saint television executive Bruce Christensen, has filed two lawsuits in Colorado. One is a state-court action against her former husband and several church members from her local congregation, and the other is a federal-court action against the LDS church, Christensen, and LDS apostle M. Russell Ballard, among others.
The state complaint alleges that, following her estrangement from her husband, members of her ward conducted a four-month orchestrated campaign of harassment, terror, extortion, and interference in the child custody proceedings that accompanied Centers' divorce. Centers alleges that when she left the church and her husband in June 2006, LDS church member Kathryn Balley "was appalled" and began sending emails that included "threats of jail and commitment to a mental institution." Centers alleges that Balley conspired with other LDS church members to blackmail Centers and her long-time friend Chris Runyan into "'repenting of their sins,' paying money, giving up custody of their children, and so forth."
There are many gaps in the factual narrative that I would be interested in seeing filled in. Centers and Runyan are proceeding pro se, which means they were apparently unable to get an attorney to take their case on a contingent fee basis. This raises a big red flag for me on their ability to back up their allegations and prove them in a court of law. While the complaint is not as polished as what one would expect from an accomplished attorney, it is pretty good for a pro se pleading. I would like a little more background on the relationship of the parties. Reading between the lines, it appears that Jennifer Centers and Chris Runyan became involved at some point, and that served as at least partial motivation for the actions of their ex-spouses. But the narrative is sketchy on the nature of Chris and Jennifer's relationship. There is also a bizarre sub-plot in the narrative concerning some sort of right-wing militia-type with whom they were previously associated. It's not clear why he got involved or exactly what the history is between him and Jennifer and Chris. I reserve judgment on the credibility of their allegations. But I find them interesting nonetheless. One of their state-law causes of action is for "Ethnic Intimidation" and is based on a Colorado statute that provides "it is the right of every person, regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, or national origin, to be secure and protected from fear, intimidation, harassment, and physical harm caused by the activities of individuals and groups." See C.R.S. 18-9-121. I've never read any cases on the tort of "ethnic intimidation" so it would be interesting to see this go all the way to verdict. You can download the state complaint by clicking on the following link:
Download centers_state_complaint.pdf
The federal complaint is also interesting, but the narrative contains even less factual information and is a somewhat confusing read. Centers alleges that in 1991 as a student at Brigham Young University, she began to remember "events of abuse from her childhood." She received therapy from church clergy in her student ward. It isn't clear, but is implied, that her alleged abuser was her father Bruce Christensen, who has apparently been the President of KSL, the broadcast TV network owned by the LDS church. Christensen previously was the President of PBS and Dean of BYU's College of Fine Arts and Communications, as well as a reporter for KSL. According to the complaint filed in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado on December 28, 2007, Jennifer Centers told her uncle, who worked for the Boy Scouts of America, about the alleged abuse. Her uncle notified the Boy Scouts in Arlington, Virginia, where Bruce Christensen was apparently serving in a Scout leadership position in his local ward, and the Boy Scouts contacted the local ward and demanded that Christensen be reassigned out of the Scouting program.
According to the complaint, in contrast to the swift action taken by the Boy Scouts of America, after Jennifer told her dad about her "memories of abuse," Christensen "contacted high officials in the Mormon Church including Apostle Dallin Oaks and Apostle Ballard who took action helping Bruce Christensen 'fix the problem.'" Jennifer alleges that Elder Ballard and other church leaders failed to follow church policies and procedures and failed to comply with statutory requirements regarding the reporting of abuse, and that they improperly shared privileged communications and interfered with her child custody action. Centers alleges that church officials, including Elder Ballard, provided "information, encouragement, and support" to the people she alleges were blackmailing, harassing, and intimidating her and Chris Runyan. Centers also alleges that despite their repeated demands to be left alone, church officials continue to "harass" her and Chris Runyan.
Though the federal complaint was also filed pro se (I can't figure out why, if they have a strong case, they couldn't find a plaintiffs' attorney to take their case on contingency--there are a number of lawyers who are making a living suing churches on similar charges) and accordingly has a somewhat amateurish tone (e.g., "The defendants conspired on at least two different occasions!"), cutting through the salacious details I see a couple of perhaps legitimate causes of action. First is the allegation regarding the dissemination of privileged communications. The privilege in a clergy-penitent relationship runs to the parishioner, not the clergy. That is, it exists for the protection of the parishioner and is to be held inviolate with few exceptions. It does not exist for the protection of the clergy or the institution he serves. This is a principle that more than one LDS Bishop has at times forgotten. So that allegation interests me. Second is the allegation that the church failed to follow its own policies and procedures and violated state abuse-reporting laws.
Finally, again, I am intrigued by the "ethnic intimidation" charge. Centers alleges that a church leader, seeing them in attendance at a meeting, gave a spontaneous sermon, looked them in the eye and said that sinners and apostates "would be trampled under the feet of the righteous." Can church leaders be found liable for ethnic intimidation for preaching their religious views from the pulpit? This has First Amendment implications, which I always find interesting.
The federal complaint can be downloaded by clicking on the following:
Download centers_federal_complaint_redacted.pdf
The federal case has been referred to a magistrate for a scheduling conference in March.
I don't know whether the allegations in these complaints are true or not. Obviously, the defendants, including Elder Ballard and the Church, have a right to respond to the allegations and have their side of the case heard in court. I don't know personally any of the individuals involved and am withholding judgment until a lot more information comes out. I'll keep the readers of Equality Time posted as the case unfolds.
Centers and Runyan have their own blog, from which I pulled the individual pages of the state-law complaint and posted here as a single file. If you want to ask questions directly of the plaintiffs, please leave a comment on their blog. Because of the sensitive nature of this post, I have closed comments. I don't want anyone who comments here to get themselves (or this blog) into legal hot water with an off-hand comment. Thanks.
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