Judge throws out green's defamation lawsuit!

The Salt Lake Tribune/October 11, 2000
By Michael Vigh

A judge has thrown out polygamist Tom Green's defamation lawsuit against an anti-polygamy group and ordered him to pay the organization's legal fees.

Green and his five wives filed the suit in 1999 in 3rd District Court against Tapestry of Polygamy (now known as Tapestry Against Polygamy) claiming the group slandered them on television. Green, representing himself and his wives, said the group unfairly labeled him as abusive and incestuous.

The suit was dismissed last month because the Greens failed to provide Tapestry lawyers with information concerning their personal family history. Those materials included marriage, divorce and birth certificates, and information regarding the Greens' financial and business activities, said Tapestry lawyer Douglas F. White.

The Sept. 21 ruling by 3rd District Judge Stephen Henriod also orders the Greens to pay Tapestry's $10,831.50 attorney fees. Green has appealed the dismissal.

Green conceded Tuesday he did not provide the documents because he claims they have nothing to do with the lawsuit.

"They wanted to know everyone I had sex with and how old they were when we had sex," Green told The Salt Lake Tribune. "That flat out had nothing to do with the court case and I thought it was irrelevant."

White countered that sex has everything to do with the case and said Green had more than a year to provide the requested information.

"Sure it's personal, but incest is personal," White said. "Mr. Green brought this case, he has a duty to provide the defendants these materials. The defendants have a right to that information and more."

Green -- who says he earns a living selling magazines and working as a paralegal -- filed the lawsuit in June 1999 against Tapestry, a nonprofit support group for former plural wives. He claims the group slandered him in a television interview with KUTV's Rod Decker on his "Take Two" program. Besides Tapestry, the suit also named as defendants White and group member Carmen Thompson.

Next month, Green is scheduled to stand trial in Juab County's 4th District Court on four charges of bigamy and one count of criminal nonsupport for more than $50,000 in state support for 25 of his 29 children. Those charges are third-degree felonies and could put Green behind bars for up to 5 years on each count.

Green's attorney, John Bucher, has filed motions for evidentiary hearings on selective prosecution, freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Those motions could delay the scheduled Nov. 1 trial date.

Green is also charged with first-degree felony rape of a child for impregnating a 13-year-old girl in 1986. The alleged victim, Linda Kunz, later became Green's first plural wife. The charge carries a possible life sentence.