A federal appeals court has sided with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and overturned a lower court ruling that left the faith on the hook for a sexual abuse lawsuit settlement.
In a ruling handed down on Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the church’s insurance companies may be obligated to cover the settlement.
The church settled a lawsuit filed in West Virginia alleging that Michael Jensen sexually abused children there. Jensen’s father and grandfather were considered prominent members of the church, the judges wrote in their ruling. The victims sued the church alleging it failed to take precautions that might have prevented the abuse. Right before the case was to go to trial in 2013, the church settled with the victims and their families.
In 2023, the church sued its insurance providers, National Union Insurance and ACE Property & Casualty Co., after they refused to cover the sex abuse settlements. In 2025, U.S. District Court Judge Tena Campbell ruled that the insurance companies were not in breach of contract by refusing to pay out on the settlements the church made.
The church then appealed to the 10th Circuit in Denver. In the ruling, the judges unanimously sided with the church over their insurers, but added: “It’s enough to say that the church was potentially liable for failing to take reasonable precautions between 2007 and 2011 that could have prevented Jensen’s sexual abuse of the settling victims.”
The appeals court has sent the case back to a lower court for further litigation based on its ruling.
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