(January 10, 2017, 12:35 PM EST) -- PORTLAND, Ore. — The widow and children of a late Sikh Dharma spiritual leader may proceed with their conspiracy and fraud claims alleging that they were wrongfully excluded from certain management positions and denied assets, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled Jan. 6 after determining that, based only on the pleadings, the plaintiffs’ claims are not barred by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution’s ministerial exception (Bibiji Inderjit Kaur Puri, et al. v. Sopurkh Kaur Khalsa, et al., No. 13-36024, 9th Cir.; 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 266)....