Justia Utah Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

The State charged Defendant with official misconduct under Utah Code 76-8-201 and with witness tampering under Utah Code 76-8-508(1). At a preliminary hearing, the magistrate judge refused to bind Defendant over for trial, concluding that the State had not met its burden of presenting sufficient evidence to support a reasonable belief that Defendant had committed witness tampering or official misconduct. The court of appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) the magistrate and court of appeals erred in weighing the evidence in search of the most reasonable inference; and (2) the State presented evidence supporting a reasonable belief that each offense in question was committed by Defendant. View "State v. Jones" on Justia Law

Petitioner’s son assaulted Petitioner’s co-worker. Petitioner was convicted of aggravated assault because phone records showed that calls were made Petitioner’s phone and his son’s phone just before and after the assault. Petitioner appealed, arguing that the trial court erred in admitting preliminary hearing testimony about the phone records from a detective who had dried before trial and that his lawyer’s objection on this point violated his constitutional right to the effective assistance of counsel. The court of appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) any error in admitting the detective’s testimony was not invited because there was no clear affirmative statement by counsel inviting the court to err; and (2) even if the trial court erred in admitting the detective’s testimony, Petitioner was not prejudiced by the admission of the testimony. View "State v. McNeil" on Justia Law

Rent-A-Center West, Inc. leases and sells a variety of consumer goods. Customers may opt to participate in a liability waiver program for an extra fee. Rent-A-Center charges sales tax on rental payments but not on the liability waiver fee. In 2010, the Utah State Tax Commission issued a statutory notice to Rent-A-Center imposing taxes and interest on the amounts Rent-A-Center charged for the liability waiver fee. In a formal hearing, the Commission found the waiver fee taxable. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the liability waiver fee is not subject to sales and use tax under the plain text of the Utah Tax Code. View "Rent-A-Center v. Tax Comm’n" on Justia Law

The litigation surrounding this appeal has lasted more than a decade. Watergate Resorts first sued Shaun Adel and Consumer Protection Group, LLC (together, CPG) for breach of contract. CPG counterclaimed for fraud under the Utah Pattern of Unlawful Activity Act (UPUAA). An arbitration panel decided the UPUAA claims in CPG’s favor, but, claiming bias, Westgate moved the district court to vacate the panel’s decision. The court granted the motion. The Supreme Court reversed and confirmed the arbitration panel’s award of damages against Westgate. On remand, the arbitration panel awarded attorney fees to CPG. The Supreme Court reversed in part and affirmed in part, holding (1) the panel’s award of fees for the the court proceedings confirming the panel’s decisions on the merits is void; but (2) the panel’s award of attorney fees expended during arbitration is allowed, and CPG is entitled to attorney fees for this appeal. View "Westgate v. Adel" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of child kidnapping and sentenced to a term of ten years to life. During trial, Defendant moved to put on an expert in eyewitness testimony. The motion was denied because Defendant failed to establish that such testimony was reliable, but the jury was instructed on the issues surrounding eyewitness testimony. The court of appeals reversed, concluding that this case called for the retroactive application of the Supreme Court’s decision in State v. Clopten. In Clopten, the Court held that where eyewitness are identifying a stranger, expert eyewitness testimony meets the requirements of Utah R. Evid. 702 if certain established factors affecting accuracy are present. Prior to Clopten, there was a presumption against the admission of eyewitness expert testimony. The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) Clopten applies retroactively to Defendant’s case; but (2) the trial court did not abuse its discretion under the Clopten standard in denying Defendant’s motion to admit eyewitness expert testimony. View "State v. Guard" on Justia Law

Defendant was charged with vaginally raping and orally and anally sodomizing his seven-year-old daughter. The State sought to introduce evidence pursuant to Utah R. Evid. 404(c) that Defendant had previously vaginally raped and orally and anally sodomized two other daughters. The district court ordered that the evidence not be admitted, concluding that the evidence demonstrated a propensity to commit the crime charged but did not pass muster under Utah R. Evid. 403 because it presented a danger of unfair prejudice that substantially outweighed its probative value. The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) the district court abused its discretion by applying an incorrect legal standard and abused its discretion in how it assessed the similarities between the evidence of prior abuse and the current alleged abuse, as well as the potential prejudice from the evidence of prior abuse; and (2) the evidence of Defendant’s past child molestation conviction was admissible under Rule 403. View "State v. Cuttler" on Justia Law

Mind & Motion Utah Investments, LLC entered into a real estate purchase contract (REPC) with Celtic Bank to buy a piece of property the Bank had acquired from a developer through foreclosure. The prior owner and received approval to construct condominium units on the land but had not recorded the plats for the first phase of development. Mind & Motion agreed to purchase the property, but the REPC required the Bank to record the plats by a certain date and allowed Mind & Motion discretion to extend the recording deadline as necessary to allow the Bank enough time to record. Under the REPC, if Mind & Motion extended the deadline, the deadline to complete the transaction would be automatically extended. Mind & Motion extended the recording deadline once but refused to extend it a second time. Mind & Motion subsequently sued Celtic Bank for breach of contract. The district court granted summary judgment for Mind & Motion, concluding that the recording provision was unambiguously a covenant, not a condition. Celtic Bank appealed, arguing that the recording provision was unambiguously a condition. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the recording provision was a covenant, not a condition, and there was no latent ambiguity in the REPC. View "Mind & Motion v. Celtic Bank" on Justia Law

Utah’s pay-TV sales tax scheme provides a sales tax credit for an amount equal to fifty percent of the franchise fees paid by pay-TV providers to local municipalities for use of their public rights-of-way. Satellite providers, however, use a different business model that does not trigger franchise fees. The satellite providers brought this lawsuit asserting that Utah’s tax scheme favors local economic interests at the expense of interstate commerce in violation of the Commerce Clause and the Uniform Operation of Laws Clause. The State Tax Commission moved for judgment on the pleadings. The district court granted the motion. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) Utah’s pay-TV tax credit survives dormant commerce scrutiny; and (2) the tax credit survives rational basis scrutiny under the Uniform Operation of Laws Clause. View "DIRECTV v. Utah State Tax Comm’n" on Justia Law

K.C., a minor child, was removed from the custody of her mother. Nearly seventeen months after K.C. had originally been removed from Mother’s custody and after a permanency hearing, the juvenile court terminated reunification services. The State then filed a petition for termination of parental rights. Mother argued that Department of Child and Family Services had not complied with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and that, therefore, the State was incapable of making “reasonable efforts” toward reunification. The juvenile court determined that the ADA is not a defense in a termination proceeding and, even if the ADA applied, Mother had not suffered from any failure to comply with the ADA because Mother’s disabilities were accommodated. The court then terminated Mother’s parental rights. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the ADA applies to the provision of reunification services under Utah Code 78A-6-312 and 78A-6-507; but (2) the juvenile court judge did not abuse his discretion in deciding that Mother’s requested modifications to the reunification plan in question were not reasonable. View "In re K.C." on Justia Law

628 Park Avenue, LLC filed a complaint asserting claims for unlawful detainer, breach of a promissory note, breach of lease, and declaratory relief against James Ring and other defendants. A default judgment was entered against Ring. The judgment, however, was nonfinal because claims against other defendants remained pending when it was entered. Because 628 Park Avenue recorded the default judgment it claimed to have acquired a judgment lien. The district court concluded that 628 Park Avenue possessed a valid judgment lien against the property in the amount of the original default judgment. The Court of Appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) the judgment sustaining a lien under Utah Code 78B-5-202(7) must be a final judgment; and (2) the recorded judgment in this case was insufficient because it merely identified the judgment debtor by name and did not provide sufficient information as required by section 78B-5-202(7)(a)(i). View "Irving Place Assocs. v. 628 Park Ave, LLC" on Justia Law