- The Church of Jesus Christ continued a winning streak in federal appeals court cases about tithing use.
- The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the plaintiffs filed their lawsuit too late.
- The ruling covered four consolidated cases filed in four separate states.
A three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a unanimous ruling Monday in a consolidated class-action tithing lawsuit involving The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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The judges ruled for the church, affirming a 2025 district court ruling that dismissed a lawsuit in which nine people filed four lawsuits seeking the return of hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations they gave the church across a quarter of a century.
The court said its role was to determine if the Supreme Court would overturn the district court ruling that the plaintiffs sued the church after the statute of limitations had expired.
“We see no reversible error,” wrote judges Harris Hartz, Gregory Phillips and Nancy Moritz, adding later, “We are not persuaded.”
Three plaintiffs — Daniel Chappell, John Oaks and Masen Christensen — filed a proposed class-action complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Utah in October 2023.
Other plaintiffs then filed similar cases in federal courts in California, Tennessee and Washington. A judicial panel consolidated the cases, which then were heard together in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City.
The plaintiffs alleged the church misused donations, fraudulently inducing donations, concealed the misuse, committed fraud when it said tithing funds would be used only for church purposes and engaged in illegal “enrichment” by retaining the funds.
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Judge Robert J. Shelby ruled that the plaintiffs all should have been aware of the information that motivated their claims for longer than the three-year limit required by law to file a lawsuit.
Shelby dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning the nine plaintiffs could not try again. Instead, they filed an appeal in the 10th Circuit.
“Tithing donations made by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are an expression of faith and allow the church to fulfill its divine mission,” church spokesman Sam Penrod said after Shelby’s ruling in April 2025.
“These donations are carefully used and wisely managed, under the direction of senior church leaders,” he added. “The legal claims brought against the church were rightfully dismissed by the court.”
The Church of Jesus Christ has now won three major cases in 20 months involving claims about tithing.
- In January 2025, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a lawsuit by James Huntsman, who sought the return of millions in tithing and other donations to the church. The court ruled that “no reasonable juror could conclude that the church misrepresented the source of funds for the City Creek project.”
- In August 2025, a 10th Circuit panel of judges upheld a 2023 federal district court ruling that rejected a lawsuit brought by Laura Gaddy and others that claimed the church propounded false beliefs and misrepresented its history and practices to defraud members of donations.
An attorney who was part of the latest case hailed Monday’s ruling.
“It’s another great victory for the church in this whole spate of cases that the church has faced,” said attorney Gene Schaerr, who filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case on behalf of the National Association of Evangelicals and the General Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventists.
This story will be updated.