My understanding is that Mr Hunstman alleges that tithing money from members was used to bail out church owned business enteprises.I will research it more to find out more.

Can and is it likely that a non Mormon judge can compel the church to provide all its secret financial information about its spending to finally prove once and for all that secretive mormon finances are above board?

I know of a case in California about a sex abuse law suit against the Jehovahs Witnesses.A judge compelled the church of Jehovahs to release all records relating to internal church discipline over child molestation cases.

The Church will settle before it produces it's financial records. The question is how much "fuerza" does Huntsman have to hang in there and NOT settle. He's going to get a lot of crap. I hope he has a strong support system of friends, lawyers, colleagues standing by that can keep him from getting intimidated.

Wonder how the rest of the Huntsman clan feel about his lawsuit?

These lawsuits go absolutely nowhere. You can bet the church and its army of lawyers will get this tossed out almost immediately. There won't be any smoking guns that bring about the church's collapse.

What lawsuits like this are good for is publicity and giving the church a black eye. Gets people talking. So I would say if you have time and money to burn in such an endeavor (like Huntsman undoubtedly does), then go for it.

Strength in the Loins Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> These lawsuits go absolutely nowhere. You can bet
> the church and its army of lawyers will get this
> tossed out almost immediately. There won't be any
> smoking guns that bring about the church's
> collapse.
>
> What lawsuits like this are good for is publicity
> and giving the church a black eye. Gets people
> talking. So I would say if you have time and
> money to burn in such an endeavor (like Huntsman
> undoubtedly does), then go for it.

Well it has been four months, and will go on until at least August 30. So the church isn't getting thrown out immediately. The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in California, so the influence of the church will be significantly less than it would be in a State court in Utah.

"Tossed immediately" does not include time spent waiting for a preliminary hearing. Let's see how long it lasts in court session. I'm betting it never makes it to trial. I could be wrong, in which case cheers to Mr Huntsman.