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On this page, our lawyers will discuss LDS sexual abuse lawsuits against the Mormon Church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).
We will explain the legal requirements for bringing a Mormon Church sex abuse lawsuit, and our attorneys will also examine the expected average settlement payout value of remaining cases.
We expect more LDS Church sex abuse settlements in 2026. If you have a claim, contact us today at 800-553-8082 or get a free consultation.
LDS Sex Abuse Claims Overview
➤ Deadline for LDS Sex Abuse Claims
➤ Key Factors for LDS Lawsuit Compensation
➤ Example LDS Settlements & Jury Payouts
LDS Church Sex Abuse News & Updates
Oregon Judge Dismisses LDS Abuse Claims Over Church’s Duty to Protect
September 18, 2026: A federal judge in Oregon ruled for the LDS Church in a sexual abuse lawsuit brought by a woman who alleged church leaders knew she was being sexually abused by her adoptive father but failed to protect her or report what they knew.
The case sounds like a strong case on its face. A stake president, a senior local church leader who oversees multiple congregations, was allegedly shown evidence of the sexual abuse and told that the father was having a sexual relationship with the then-teenage plaintiff. The lawsuit also alleges that other church officials later received information about the abuse. I think we can all agree that it is morally indefensible not to do something. So her lawsuit claimed that church leaders had an obligation to report the abuse or otherwise do something to protect the child from further abuse.
All that makes sense. But the judge unfortunately agreed with the defense argument that Oregon law did not impose the type of legal duty the plaintiff needed for her negligence claims because the abuse occurred outside church activities and outside the Church’s direct supervision. The court also rejected her argument that Oregon’s mandatory child abuse reporting law or the Church’s own internal abuse policies created the civil duty she needed to keep the case alive.
This is a good win for the LDS Church, but it is also a pretty narrow ruling. The alleged abuser here was the plaintiff’s father, not a bishop, church leader, employee, or volunteer who gained access to the child through a Church position. Many LDS sexual abuse lawsuits involve very different facts, including allegations that the Church placed an accused abuser in a position of trust or gave that person access to children. Those cases present a much stronger argument that the Church itself had a legal duty to protect the victim.
West Virginia Supreme Court Revives Key Evidence in LDS Abuse Case
July 24, 2026: The West Virginia Supreme Court reversed a lower court ruling that had excluded evidence in a major LDS sexual abuse case involving Michael Jensen, the son and grandson of prominent Church leaders.
The plaintiffs allege that Jensen sexually abused multiple children and that LDS Church leaders knew about prior abuse allegations but still allowed him access to children through homes, babysitting opportunities, and church-connected settings. The lower court had limited the evidence plaintiffs could use to show the Church’s knowledge and alleged cover-up. The Supreme Court’s ruling puts that evidence back in play.
If plaintiffs can show a pattern of warnings, internal handling, and continued access to children, the case becomes much more dangerous for the Church.
How the LDS Church Is Settling Sex Abuse Lawsuits in 2026
June 3, 2026: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is resolving sexual abuse claims through a private process that avoids the public scrutiny of mass tort litigation, class action proceedings, and courtroom testimony. Rather than face a jury, the LDS Church is steering survivors into a confidential claims resolution process coordinated directly with select plaintiffs’ firms.
Under this system, lawyers representing survivors are asked to submit case inventories. These inventories include the names, histories, alleged abuse, and claimed harms of each client. The submissions are reviewed privately, with no formal court oversight. The LDS Church’s lawyers then assess each claim, and settlement discussions follow. Mediators or third-party neutrals may assist, but there is no judge, no jury, and no public hearing. The process happens behind closed doors, and there is little public attention to any of it.
So this is not how an MDL or class action lawsuit works. There is no public notice system. There is no traditional opt-in or opt-out process. Survivors who are not already represented by participating law firms may never know this process exists. Those who do participate are bound by tough confidentiality clauses, which means the public will never learn the full scope of the abuse, who knew about it, how complaints were handled, or whether the same failures are repeated across different wards, stakes, schools, camps, or youth programs.
So why are plaintiffs’ lawyers willing to participate in this private process? It is not because we are afraid to take these cases to court. Not by any stretch. It is because the Mormon Church is willing to pay above-market settlements to resolve these cases quietly. So if a survivor can receive more compensation through a confidential process than through years of litigation, discovery fights, appeals, and trial risk, lawyers who put their clients first have to go down this path. But the taste is bitter. It is silence in exchange for meaningful compensation.
Illinois LDS Abuse Lawsuit
May 20, 2026: A new LDS lawsuit in Illinois highlights a claim in which the plaintiff is alleging that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints allowed a former church leader and registered sex offender to remain around children despite prior abuse allegations.
The lawsuit claims Illinois LDS leaders knew the accused posed a danger but still allowed him to continue serving in a Rockford congregation, where he allegedly had access to children and sexually abused a young girl in the early 2000s.
The case is especially troubling because the accused had already been charged with sexually abusing another minor, yet the lawsuit alleges the Church failed to warn families, remove him from access to children, or take meaningful steps to prevent further abuse.
New Jersey LDS Sexual Abuse Lawsuit
May 6, 2026: In a new lawsuit, a New Jersey man alleges that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and related church entities failed to protect him from repeated sexual abuse by a church “Branch President” when he was a minor in Paterson, New Jersey.
The plaintiff claims he was 13 when church elders recruited his family to attend services at a local Paterson ward connected to the Soldier Hill New Jersey Stake, and that the church leader quickly began grooming him through special attention, gifts, rides, and private visits.
The abuse escalated from forced kissing to repeated sexual assaults in the church leader’s home and car over roughly two years, while the plaintiff attended Paterson Catholic High School. The plaintiff further says that the church leader offered to pay his private school tuition and help with his immigration status, then cruelly used threats tied to that status to coerce and silence him.
The lawsuit claims the church entities knew or should have known that the church leader posed a danger to minors, failed to investigate or report suspected abuse, and maintained policies and practices that prioritized institutional protection over child safety. The complaint brings claims for negligence, gross negligence, negligent training, supervision, and retention, vicarious liability, negligent infliction of emotional distress, failure to report child abuse under New Jersey law, punitive damages, and assault and battery against the alleged perpetrator.
The plaintiff seeks compensatory and punitive damages, interest, costs, and a jury trial in Passaic County Superior Court.
Big Ruling Coming in Oregon LDS Lawsuit
May 1, 2026: A significant legal ruling is pending in federal court in Oregon after plaintiff attorneys filed a reply brief last week, squarely rejecting the Church’s argument that it had no legal duty to protect a teenage girl from her abusive adoptive father. This is a big issue. Our lawyers have a lot of similar cases where the Church looked the other way while extremely obvious sexual abuse was happening, often actively trying to shut down police involvement by telling the victim and other witnesses not to report it.
The Church had argued that because the abuse happened inside the home, the institution bears no responsibility. Plaintiff attorneys pushed back hard, pointing to a local bishop who allegedly told the victim’s mother not to contact police.
That was not pastoral guidance, they argue. It was an affirmative act that isolated the victim with her abuser and moved her across state lines. They also argue the bishop’s instruction violated the Church’s own written anti-abuse policies, which strips the conduct of any First Amendment protection the Church might otherwise claim. The federal court will now decide whether the case proceeds or the no-duty defense ends it.
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Tracking Mormon Church Sex Abuse Settlements
April 12, 2026: You cannot rely much on press coverage when it comes to the Mormon Church sex abuse settlements. The media picks up a few headlines here and there — a big round of cases in California, a lawsuit in Arizona that gets some traction — but the real story is playing out behind closed doors. Most of what we know comes from conversations with other lawyers in the litigation.
How much are these settlements? Some of these are drawing mid-five-figure to low six-figure offers. Why so low? The statute of limitations has passed, which means the cases are technically worth nothing. But laws can change, and the LDS wants to put these cases to bed. So they are often willing to settle claims that go beyond the deadline to file an LDS lawsuit. But you will get a smaller settlement in those lawsuits than you would for a case that does not have an issue with the statute of limitations.
On the other end, there are cases where there is strong corroboration or the accused was a bishop or held some other official calling that are settling in the millions. The common thread in the bigger settlement numbers seems to be documentation: contemporaneous reports, supporting witnesses, and some paper trail that removes plausible deniability.
But that is painting with a broad brush. Every case is different. Some hinge on a journal entry from decades ago. Others turn on whether the accused had a title next to their name on a ward directory. And for all the patterns our lawyers think we see, the truth is that this whole process is opaque by design. There is no public docket. No press releases. Just mediation sessions, closed-door offers, and quiet resolutions that rarely see sunlight.
Oregon Lawsuit
February 25, 2026: An Oregon woman sued the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day…