Utah Court Rules – Published for Comment – Page 22 – The Supreme Court and Judicial Council invite comments about amending these rules. To view the proposed amendment, click on the rule number. To submit a comment or view the comments of others, click on “Continue Reading.” To submit a comment, scroll down to the “Leave a Reply” section, and type your comment in the “Comment” field. Type your name and email address in the designated fields and click “Post Comment.” Comments cannot be acknowledged, but all will be considered. Comments are saved to a buffer for review before publication.

Posted: February 5, 2021

Rules of Civil Procedure – Comment Period Closed March 22, 2021

DISCLOSURE AND DISCOVERY AMENDMENTS

URCP026. General provisions governing disclosure and discovery. Amend. The proposed amendments to Rule 26 extend several discovery timelines and clarify multiple provisions. The amendments also include the language currently proposed in SJR004 (2021), which addresses a party’s duty to pay an expert witness’s hourly fee for attendance at a deposition (lines 113-114).

FAMILY LAW AMENDMENTS

As a whole, the family law amendments below are intended to

make case names more neutral and less antagonistic;
shorten the presumptive discovery period for domestic cases;
implement the case management recommendations of the “Report and Recommendations to the Standing Committee on Children and Family Law;” and
address issues raised in a recent legislative audit.

URCP010. Form of pleadings and other papers. Amend.

URCP012. Defenses and objections. Amend.

URCP026. General provisions governing disclosure and discovery. Amend.

URCP026.01. Disclosure and discovery in domestic relations actions. Amend.

URCP100A. Case Management of Domestic Relations Actions. NEW.

URCP104. Divorce decree upon affidavit. Amend.

URCP106. Modification of final domestic relations order. Amend.

Posted: February 5, 2021

Rules of Juvenile Procedure – Comment Period Closed March 22, 2021

URJP026. Rights of minors in delinquency proceedings. Amended. Make revisions to bring the rule in compliance with S.B. 32 Indigent Defense Act Amendments (2019); specifically Utah Code Sections 78B-22-102 and 78B-22-204.

Posted: February 5, 2021

Rules of Appellate Procedure – Comment Period Closed March 22, 2021

URAP043. Certification by the Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court. Amend. The proposed amendments to Rule 43: (1) change the due date from ten days to 14 days in 43(b)(1); (2) comport the rule with Standing Order 11 (regarding filing documents by email); and (3) clean up other language for clarity and consistency.

Posted: January 28, 2021

Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closed March 14, 2021

CJA02-0211. Compliance with the Code of Judicial Administration and the Code of Judicial Conduct. AMEND. Expands the ability to report allegations of a failure to comply with the provisions of the CJA and the CJC to any court employee. Allows information identifying the complainant to be omitted from reports to the Judicial Council. If the allegations involve inappropriate behavior toward the complainant, the complainant must be made aware of any corrective action taken. The complainant may ask for Judicial Council review of any decision made by the presiding officer.

Posted: January 28, 2021

Rules of Criminal Procedure – Comment Period Closed March 14, 2021

URCrP042. Automatic expungement. NEW. A new rule establishing procedures for automatic expungement of certain cases described in Utah Code §77-40-114.

Posted: January 28, 2021

Code of Judicial Conduct – Comment Period Closed March 14, 2021

Terminology. Adds the definition of abusive conduct and amends the definition of judicial candidate to those who are applying for judicial office.

CJC02.3. Bias, Prejudice, and Harassment. AMEND. The amendment applies abusive conduct restrictions to judges.

CJC02.11. Disqualification. AMEND. Clarifies that the restriction on hearing cases applies when the lawyer is a supervisor of the judge’s relative.

CJC02.12. Supervisory Duties. AMEND. The amendment applies abusive conduct restrictions to judge in their supervisory roles.

CJC04.1. Political and Campaign Activities of Judges and Judicial Candidates in General. AMEND. Clarifies that only certain restrictions apply to judicial candidates.

Posted: January 20, 2021

Rules of Criminal Procedure – Comment Period Closed March 6, 2021

URCrP016. This proposal incorporates changes suggested by the public comments to require disclosure of police officer’s notes only if they have not been incorporated into a police report, allowing defendants to waive the mandatory disclosures, and clarifying the notice procedure when a prosecutor decides a required disclosure is either not lawful or would endanger any person or an ongoing investigation.

Posted: December 28, 2020

Rules of Civil Procedure – Comment period closed February 11, 2021

URCP005. Service and filing of pleadings and other papers. AMEND. The proposed amendments to Rule 5(b)(3) would make email service the default method.

URCP006. Time. AMEND. The proposed amendments to Rule 6(c) acknowledge the timing issues surrounding mail service by expanding the amount of time to act from 3 days to 7.

URCP007. Pleadings allowed; motions, memoranda, hearings, orders. AMEND. The proposed amendments to Rule 7 would provide that motion hearings may be held remotely, consistent with the safeguards in Rule 43(b).

URCP037. Statement of discovery issues; Sanctions; Failure to admit, to attend deposition or to preserve evidence. AMEND. The proposed amendments to Rule 37 would provide that hearings on discovery issues be conducted remotely, consistent with the Rule 43(b) safeguards.

URCP043. Evidence. AMEND. Replaces repealed Code of Judicial Administration Rule 4-106. The proposed amendments would provide appropriate safeguards for the use of remote hearings and bring evidentiary hearings into the rule’s purview. The amendments would also adopt an oath to be used for all witness testimony.

URCP045. Subpoena. AMEND. The proposed amendments to Rule 45 would provide that if an appearance is required in response to a subpoena, the subpoena must provide notice of the date, time, and place for the appearance and, if remote transmission is requested, instructions for participation and who to contact if there are technical difficulties.

URCP076. Notice of contact information change. AMEND. The proposed amendments to Rule 76 would coordinate with the Rule 5 amendments by clarifying the purposes for which updated contact information is provided to the court.

Posted: December 21, 2020

Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closed February 4, 2021

CJA03-0101. Judicial Performance Standards (AMEND)
Establishes a definition for “submitted” for purposes of the case under advisement performance standard, and clarifies that judges will be considered compliant with education and case under advisement standards if their failure to meet one or both of those standards was due to circumstances outside of the judge’s control. All material relied upon by the Judicial Council in making a certification decision or explanation shall be forwarded to JPEC and shall be made public to the extent that the information is not confidential personal health information.

CJA03-0108. Judicial Assistance (AMEND)
Authorizes the presiding officer of the Judicial Council to appoint a district court presiding judge as the signing judge for automatic expungements in all district courts within the presiding judge’s district.

Posted: December 3, 2020

Rules of Professional Conduct – Comment Period Closed January 17, 2021

Proposed changes merge the attorney Rules of Professional Conduct and the LPP Rules of Professional Conduct into one set of rules. Currently, there are two nearly identical sets of Rules of Professional Conduct for each type of licensee. One set of rules is more efficient and makes changes and updates to the rules simpler and more uniform.

Preliminary Notes

RPC01.00. Terminology.

RPC01.01. Competence.

RPC01.02. Scope of representation and allocation of authority between client and lawyer.

RPC01.05. Fees.

RPC04.02. Communication with persons represented by legal professionals.

RPC06.01. Voluntary pro bono legal service.