Legal Question in Legal Ethics in Utah

I live in Provo, Utah, near Brigham Young University. All the apartments in the area, in order to be approved to house BYU students, must abide, and require their tenants to abide by the BYU Honor Code, which is based on the values of the church that owns BYU (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). The Honor Code includes restrictions on drinking, smoking, sex, and other legal behaviors. While my personal opinion is that no church or organization should exercise that degree of control over entities it does not own, as well as people who are not members, this is not the issue immediately at hand for me. I have associated with the Mormon church in the past and so, after a violation of the Honor Code (but not the law) I thought it best to approach a religious leader (a Mormon bishop) to confess and seek guidance in changing my behavior. Without my approval, and in clear violation of Church policies and laws governing the confidentiality of information shared between religious leaders and their congregation, this man reported my behavior. I was summarily evicted, my prepaid rent and deposit forfeit. My question is whether his actions are actionable on my part, and if so, what my first step should be in recovering the money that I've lost, and being compensated for the huge inconvenience that his violation of trust has caused.


Asked on 7/27/10, 9:58 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Alvin Lundgren Alvin R. Lundgren, L.C.

You will probably have to file suit against the apartment for wrongful eviction. You can do this in small claims court if you do not want to pay for an attorney. You could also sue the Bishop for violation of your right of confidentiality. This suit would have to be filed in district court.

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Answered on 7/29/10, 7:09 am


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