Justia Utah Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

In 2014, the City of Draper passed and adopted a Resolution that levied a tax on property located within the Traverse Ridge Special Service District. Petitioners, five residents, collected certified voter signatures and asked the City to refer the Resolution to voters of the District. The City rejected the referendum petition, asserting that the tax levy was a nonreferable administrative action. Petitioners filed a petition for writ of extraordinary relief. The Supreme Court granted the relief sought, holding (1) the Resolution was properly referable to the voters because it was legislative in nature; and (2) the City’s constitutional challenge to the subjurisdictional referendum statute failed. View "Mawhinney v. Draper City" on Justia Law

Petitioners obtained sufficient signatures to challenge a proposed tax increase approved by the Orem City Council via a referendum petition. The referendum petition was scheduled to go to a vote in the November 2013 election. In November 2012, the city attorney filed a final ballot title with the city recorder. Dissatisfied with the chosen language for the ballot title, Petitioners filed a petition for extraordinary relief, challenging the wording. The Supreme Court held that the city attorney did not abuse his discretion in drafting the proposed ballot title and that the proposed wording satisfied the statutory direction that the title be an impartial and true statement of the purpose of the measure. View "Burr v. City of Orem" on Justia Law

A group called Move to Amend Salt Lake submitted a petition for certification of an initiative petition for placement on the local election ballot. Salt Lake City informed Move to Amend that their petition would not be placed on the ballot because it did not qualify as a proper initiative. Plaintiff, a registered voter in the City, filed a petition for extraordinary relief, asking the Supreme Court to compel the City Recorder to place the initiative on the City's November 2012 ballot, and to declare that the power of popular initiative encompasses initiatives that are purely advisory. The Supreme Court denied the petition for extraordinary relief, holding that the power of popular initiative in Utah does not encompass initiatives that are purely advisory. View "Proulx v. Salt Lake City Recorder" on Justia Law

Utahns for Ethical Government (UEG), a Utah political action committee, advanced a petition for an initiative to be included in the 2010 statewide general election. Ultimately, UEG's efforts to qualify for the 2010 ballot were unsuccessful. Yet UEG continued collecting additional signatures thereafter, using the same petition targeting 2010. The lieutenant governor subsequently determined that UEG's initiative did not qualify for the 2012 ballot, reasoning that the initiative petition it advanced applied only to the 2010 ballot. UEG then filed suit, seeking a court order compelling placement of its proposed initiative on the 2012 ballot. After UEG's efforts at the district court proved unsuccessful, UEG appealed and petitioned the Supreme Court for extraordinary relief. The Supreme Court denied UEG the relief it sought, holding that UEG was not entitled to have its initiative included on the 2012 ballot because it did not meet its burden of demonstrating that its initiative qualified for the 2012 ballot. View "Utahns for Ethical Gov't v. Bell" on Justia Law

Stephen Maxfield challenged the results of the 2010 gubernatorial election under Utah's election-contest statute, asking the district court to declare him and his running mate the lieutenant governor and governor of Utah, respectively. The court dismissed the petition, concluding that the statutory grounds for an election contest did not encompass Maxfield's claims. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the district court did not err in disposing of the case by deciding Herbert's timely-filed Rule 12(b)(6) motion; (2) the nature of the hearing held in district court was appropriate, and Maxwell's right to a timely hearing was waived; and (3) the district court did not err in refusing to allow Maxfield to bring an election contest based on allegations of campaign finance violations. View "Maxfield v. Herbert" on Justia Law