Justia Utah Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

An industrial accident occurred while Employer was insured under two separate workers compensation insurance policies, one with the Workers Compensation Fund (WCF) and one with the Utah Business Insurance Company (UBIC). WCF paid all of Employee's medical expenses and weekly compensation benefits, but when WCF became aware of the overlapping coverage, WCF filed a complaint against UBIC, alleging that UBIC was either solely or jointly liable for Employee's insurance benefits. The district court granted WCF's motion for partial summary judgment. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that both insurers were liable for Employee's claim, and therefore, WCF was entitled to equitable contribution from UBIC for reasonable past and future costs associated with the claim. Remanded for resolution for the remaining claims. View "Workers Comp. Fund v. Utah Bus. Ins. Co." on Justia Law

On November 12, 2009, City dismissed Petitioner from his position as a city police officer. Petitioner appealed his termination to the City appeal board, which, after a hearing, affirmed the City's termination decision in a ruling dated June 7, 2010. On June 10, 2010, the City's recorder certified the order as final and mailed a copy to Petitioner. Petitioner filed a petition for review on July 9, 2010. The court of appeals dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, concluding the petition was untimely because it had been filed more than thirty days after the date (June 7, 2010) appearing on the appeal board's decision and order. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that Petitioner's petition was timely under a clarified statutory standard, as the order was not issued until June 10, 2010. Remanded. View "Perez v. South Jordan City" on Justia Law

This case arose out of collective bargaining negotiations between the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) and Local 382 of the Amalgamated Transit Union (Union). Those negotiations came to a standstill in 2009 when the parties entered into arbitration and litigation to resolve their disputes. The district court granted UTA's partial motion for summary judgment in the ensuing litigation, and the Union appealed. Before the matter could be addressed on appeal, however, the arbitrator entered a binding ruling largely in favor of the Union. With this ruling in hand, the parties once again entered into negotiations and successfully hammered out a new collective bargaining agreement. The Supreme Court dismissed the Union's appeal because the dispute had been resolved and the case was moot. View "Utah Transit Auth. v. Local 382 of Amalgamated Transit Union" on Justia Law

Sunnyside Coal Company (Sunnyside), the Employers' Reinsurance Fund (ERF), and the Workers' Compensation Fund (WCF) (collectively, Petitioners) challenged the Labor Commission's award of permanent total disability benefits to Claimant. Petitioners argued that the award was barred under the relevant statute of limitation, which prevented the labor commission from acquiring jurisdiction and making the award. The Supreme Court affirmed the commission's award of permanent total disability benefits but remanded for a determination of the correct amount of compensation, holding (1) the commission correctly determined it had original jurisdiction over the claim and also correctly exercised its continuing jurisdiction in awarding compensation; (2) because of the long delay in bringing the claim, however, Claimant's recovery was equitably limited; and (3) ERF was obligated to pay only prospective benefits from the date of filing, and Sunnyside and WCF were not liable for any permanent total disability benefits. View "Employers' Reinsurance Fund v. Henningson" on Justia Law

Appellant brought suit against his former employer, EnvironMax, and its directors to recover the value of shares he received to offset wages owed to him by the company - shares he claimed were diluted by corporate misdeeds. The district court dismissed Appellant's suit on summary judgment, concluding that the claim was derivative in nature and that Appellant lacked standing to assert it directly. In so ruling, the court concluded that EnvironMax was not a closely held corporation subject to an exception to the general rule requiring shareholder suits to be filed derivatively and that Appellant's direct claims were otherwise foreclosed by his failure to utilize the Utah dissenters' rights statute. The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) because Appellant's alleged injury was an individual and not a collective one in common with all shareholders, Appellant was entitled to sue individually and not required to pursue his claim derivatively; and (2) the dissenters' rights statute does not preempt direct actions rooted in breach of fiduciary duty, such as the one brought by Appellant. View "Torian v. Craig" on Justia Law

The underlying dispute in this appeal revolved around the issue of who was contractually obligated to pay workers' compensation benefits to an employee of Employer. The Supreme Court found that Employer's Insurer was required to pay workers' compensation benefits for all of Employer's employees and remanded the case. The district court entered a final judgment. Instead of filing a notice of appeal within thirty days of the district court's judgment, Insurer filed an "objection to judgment." Insurer then filed its notice of appeal within thirty days of the district court's order disposing of that motion. The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, holding that it lacked jurisdiction to address the appeal as (1) Insurer did not file its notice of appeal within thirty days of the district court's final judgment, and (2) Insurer failed to file a postjudgment motion that would toll the time for appeal or one that the Court had jurisdiction to review. View "Workers Comp. Fund v. Argonaut Ins. Co." on Justia Law