The lawsuit to recover funds from the LCMS Foundation was filed in St. Louis on September 30, 2000, by St. Louis attorneys Joseph Danis and Evan Buxner. They are acting in behalf of Attorney Robert Doggett of Cincinnati.

The suit names 15 plaintiffs to represent two classes of victims of the Foundation's investment disaster.

Class #1 are donors and beneficiaries of charitable remainder trusts to the Foundation - 12 plaintiffs representing the class. There are 584 trusts in this class.

Class #2 are church workers whose pension accounts in the old Pastors and Teachers Pension fund were reduced by a 5.77% loss in 1999. There is one pastor (still active) and two teachers neither still teaching who are plaintiffs representing this class. They are all in their 60's. Their losses in 1999 were $1912.00, $1500.00 and $856.00. There probably are more than 1000 church workers in this class. They would all be in their 60's and 70's considering when the old pension was replaced by the current one.

The defendants named in the complaint are (1) The LCMS Foundation (2) Norman Sell (3) Wayne Price, (4) Vining Sparks and (5) Fred Sticht.

The filing of this suit is the obvious result of the Synodical officials inability to police themselves and their refusal to represent the interests of laity and the Convention.

The rise of paternalism, bureaucracy, hierarchy, and secrecy, and abandonment of Walther's polity for the Congregations and the Synod in the LCMS has made it necessary to file this suit. The Foundation stated through the "Reporter" that the laity and those on pensions did not lose any funds after the Foundation lost more than 40 million dollars.

Doggett's suit will prove the Foundation is attempting to deceive the Synod and cover its losses by shorting investor accounts. Doggett's suit will also prove the losses are actually double the reported amount. The Foundation was inventing in home loan futures.

A majority of LCMS District Presidents openly campaigned to keep Robert Sell as the Synodical Treasurer in the 1998 LCMS Convention. The books of the Synod's financial institutions are closed to laity and the congregations. District Officials receive favorable rates on loans with the LCEF and other benefits. What are the loans and what are the loan rates? LCEF lost millions by investing in the Foundation. What is the investment policy of the Foundation that has been investing in home loan futures for at least four years?

The "Reporter" states that the Council of District Presidents has unanimously endorsed PLI, Pastoral Leadership Institute, funded in part from grants from LCEF and the Foundation. PLI board members at the time of the Foundation grant served on the Foundation Board. PLI retrains pastors to change congregations, which means the clergy assume control of church property and the Synod.

Both Seminaries of the Synod no longer teach that Voter Supremacy is the only polity of the LCMS. Hence, many clergy are no longer convinced of the need to report all financial information to the laity, nor can they be compelled to do so.

Chairman of the Board of Regents at Fort Wayne, Rev. David Anderson openly admits the Faculty at Fort Wayne will no longer publicly support Walther's position on Voter Supremacy. He should resign or be removed from office.

Many of the LCMS pastors are now open to the introduction of Episcopal structure for the Synod and the congregations. The Fort Wayne faculty no longer defends the laities right to full ownership, supremacy, and administration of their own congregations.

Many pastors and professors claim the Bible doesn't say the Voters' are Supreme. In the name of adiaphora, (things not commanded) they regard the laity's ownership, supervision of church property and administrative authority over the congregation with the same attitude of the Pharisees and the Law of Corban (Mark 7:11).

If the 2001 LCMS Convention refuses to pass a clear statement identifying the supremacy, ownership, and administration of LCMS Voters' Assemblies as the only polity of LCMS congregations as taught by C.F.W. Walther, control of the congregations and the Synod will be removed from the laity by fiat. The courts do not recognize the laity's ownership when the Voter's are not supreme.

Those who wish to contact Attorney Robert Doggett may reach him at rdoggett@sprynet.com

The lawsuit is receiving support from the Lutheran Concerns Association. Your donations to support this suit can be sent to:

LCA Recovery Committee
C/O of Robert Doggett
215 East 9th Street, 6th Floor
Cincinnati, Ohio 42202
(Phone 513-241-6116)