in 1918, evans broke with the rlds church. evans had complained about prophet–president frederick m. smith's administrative style and the church's continuing denials that latter day saint movement founder joseph smith had practiced and taught plural marriage. a number of rlds church members in toronto followed evans, and they began a church they called the church of the christian brotherhood. evans used some of the rlds church's money to fund the new church's activities. in 1919, the rlds church sued evans in the supreme court of ontario to recover these funds; while the case was dismissed at trial, the church's appeal was successful and evans' church was forced to return the funds to the rlds church. shortly before the trial, evans was excommunicated from the rlds church for apostasy and mismanagement of church funds.